


until we go down

by cherryraindrops



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Blood and Injury, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Supernatural Elements, Until Dawn AU, Violence, if you know the video game you should know what to see, minor smut, please stay safe reading this guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-20
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 08:35:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 49,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8095300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherryraindrops/pseuds/cherryraindrops
Summary: One year has passed since the tragic disappearance of twins Ben and Jack Hemmings, and in an effort to reunite the broken up friends, their younger brother Luke decides to reunite the friends at his family lodge. While it seems like a normal getaway, it slowly dawns on the friends that they might not be alone in these mountains, and something much more sinister could be hunting them.





	1. One Year Ago

**Author's Note:**

> I have been working on this for an entire year now. It was originally going to be set as the Halloween fic for last year, but in the end it was not ready. I decided to save it for this year, and despite the fact that Until Dawn isn’t exactly a big thing anymore, I had already written five chapters and did not want them going to waste. This AU still means a lot to me, and I hope that you guys do enjoy this!
> 
> WARNINGS: Since this is based off of a survival horror game, there is a lot of graphic violence, so please use caution when reading. Also, Major Character Death, but I feel like that is a given considering it’s origins ;) Stay safe lovelies!!
> 
> Also some characters may seen OOC, and this is intended. While most remain true to their real personalities, others were changed to fit the tropes of the video game. I apologize ahead of time if these changes are not your cup of tea.

They were told to stay inside, that much was certain. The snow whirling around outside had turned harsh and cruel, making the electricity flicker inside of the Hemmings’ lodge every now and then. Lanterns had been lit all around the house just in case another blackout occurred. The fireplace in the living room had been running all night, thought the house grew colder and colder as the night grew on making the heater become practically useless. Despite the living room being the only warm room in the entire lodge, no one seemed to be gathered around it tonight.

“I cannot _believe_ we are doing this,” Liam says excitedly, watching as Mali writes a letter in her elegant handwriting. Everyone around them stifles giggles as well, nodding at Liam’s words while two of the group, however, watch and glare.

“Don’t you guys think this is a little bit cruel?” Luke asks, folding his arms across his chest as he watches Mali give the piece of paper a lip stick print. He rolls his eyes at the girl’s actions, earning a punch in the arm from Liam. “It’s not Jack’s fault that he happens to have a crush on Mali. Why must we use that against him?” Luke wasn’t about to admit that the reason he felt weird about the prank was because it was on his brother. After all, weren’t brothers supposed to pull pranks on each other every now and then?

Liam rolls his eyes, patting Luke’s arm with a laugh. “Relax Lucas, it’s just a little fun.” He snickers towards the group, leading them out of the kitchen area and towards the living room for warmth. It doesn’t change Luke’s feelings, especially the uneasiness that rests in his stomach. He doesn’t want to follow along with this prank, not at all.

He was close to his brother, they told each other everything. So when Jack confessed to Luke that he had feelings for their friend Mali, Luke thought it was sweet. He’d always pictured the two of them dating, having known each other since they were younger, and swore to keep it a secret until the day he died. Luke didn’t expect Jack’s best friend, Louis, to get a hold of Jack’s journal and tell everyone the truth.

Honestly? Luke curses the day his mother had decided that Jack writing his feeling down in a journal after the divorce was a good idea. Sure, he and Jack, along with their brother Ben, had been pretty effected when their parents separated, but Luke found that writing his feelings down didn’t help. It seemed to go well for Jack, though, while Ben never bothered to try. Luke could have sworn Jack went through dozens of journals after that, writing down every thought he had towards everything. Sometimes Luke wondered if Jack had written anything incriminating in any of the journals, but had never been one to snoop around.

He watches as his friends all head towards Mali’s room in the lodge, giggling amongst themselves while Luke rolls his eyes. He doesn’t want any part in this stupid prank, doesn’t want to see the look in his brother’s eyes when he realizes it was all a joke. Instead, he opts to head back towards the kitchen, maybe have a drink of whatever scotch Ashton and Michael had gotten their hands on.

A part of him is screaming that he needs to go find Jack, tell him of the prank before he gets his feelings seriously hurt, while another part of him just wants to avoid any involvement to it. Looking back towards the kitchen, he shakes his head and begins to head upstairs to Jack’s bedroom, crossing his fingers that his brother was already up there.

*

“Wish this fucking storm would let up,” Ben mumbles to himself, looking out the window as the storm outside rages on. Normally he’d think the nature was beautiful, the crisp white snow all around and the gorgeous forest around it. Blackwood Pines was always beautiful, and Ben’s favorite part of coming up to the lodge every year was being able to take it in. That is, until this storm came in and ruined any plans he had to explore outside.

Turning away from the window, he begins to head towards the kitchen, hoping his little brother’s friends didn’t down the rest of the scotch. It took Ben a lot to get that bottle, and if they downed it all without Ben getting at least a drop he wasn’t going to hesitate with kicking those little brats out into the snow.

He approaches Ashton slowly, noticing that the boy has the bottle beside him. Michael sits across from Ashton, both of them passed out from drunkenness. Ben shakes his head at the two of them, grabbing the bottle and pouring himself a glass with what remains in the bottle. “You two outdid yourselves,” Ben chuckles, shoving Ashton slightly and watching the boy stir. Ben takes a long drink from his glass before walking towards the counter to find a snack.

He’s got his eye on a bag of Cheetos when he notices a piece of paper with what he believes is lip stick pressed against it. Curiosity gaining the best of him, Ben grabs the piece of paper and observes the hand writing. It’s loopy, elegant, and unmistakably Mali’s.

_Jack, meet me in my room at two. I have something I’d like to show you ;) – Mali_

“God damn it Jack,” Ben sighs, shaking his head. He’s always known his brother was weak for the girl, tripping over his own two feet just when she graced him with her presence. It was a ridiculously silly crush, one that Ben was sure Jack would forget about in a couple of months, if that. For now, though, it seems the boy is still allowing his dick to make his decisions rather than his head.

He just hopes Jack knows what he’s getting into.

*

 Calum thought this prank was ridiculous. He considered walking off and not being involved, like Luke had done, but there was also a part of him that needed to see how this played out. After all, this was his sister doing this. While he should be the good brother and chastise his sister for playing with his friend’s feelings, he also knew that this entire prank was harmless. It wasn’t like they were going to post it all over the internet: this was just something for them, and only them, to laugh at.

He shuffles into the closet with Ashley, who is giggling uncontrollably about the entire situation. “I can’t wait to see the look on his face!” She whispers, stifling her giggles with her hand. Calum laughs shortly with her, though he’s not exactly looking forward to where this is going. He wonders if Luke had the right idea of backing out of this entire thing.

The door to the bedroom creaks open then, and Calum can see through the slots of the closet door that Jack has entered the room. It’s obvious that Mali is putting on her most flirtatious smile and Calum feels as if he’s going to throw up.

“Glad you could make it,” Mali says, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “So, I’m thinking we should just take it slow? Maybe a little kiss here, a little kiss there, and then maybe I’ll let you take control.”

“Are you sure?” Jack asks her, and his voice is so shy that Calum feels horrible about this entire thing. He assumes that Mali nods because he can hear the zipper to Jack’s hoodie coming down and falling to the floor. Oh god, Calum _really_ didn’t like where this was going.

It’s then that Ashley’s giggles burst out, and suddenly the closet door is being ripped open to reveal a blushing, embarrassed Jack and a suddenly apologetic Mali. Calum feels his heart falling into his stomach as Jack’s eyes widen at them.

“What is happening?” Jack asks softly, turning around to see the others come out of their hiding spots. Calum can see they all look apologetic, as if only now seeing the implications of their stupid prank. Its then that Calum feels even worse, when he looks across the room to see that Liam had his phone out, recording the entire thing.

The bedroom door bursts open then, showing arrival of Luke and Jack’s best friend, Louis. Both of them look furious, and Calum doesn’t blame them. “Jack!” Luke says, but when he notices everyone around the room his face twists in anger. “You are all assholes!”

As all of them scramble for apologies, Jack shoves past them all on his way out of the room. Louis follows after him, calling his name while Luke turns to face the rest of his friends, whom are all racking their brains for something to say.

Luke fills it in for them. “Just a prank, huh? You guys are pricks.”

*

Ben is washing out some of the glasses when something passes by the window.

It was easy to just assume that it was a branch, maybe just a trick of the eye, but it still made him jump and drop one of the glasses, causing it to fall into the sink. He’s grateful it didn’t shatter. Setting the glass back with the others, he walks over towards the doors to the living room, pushing them open and observing the area. “Guys?” he calls out, confused as to everyone’s sudden disappearance. They couldn’t have all gone to bed already, could they?

Grabbing his coat, Ben walks over towards the front door, where his friends are all gathered around. “What happened?” he asks, noticing the only one missing was his twin. “Where’s Jack?”

It’s Mali who speaks up, rubbing her arms as the cold nips at them. “It was just a prank Ben; we didn’t mean any harm- “

“What do you mean ‘it was just a prank’?” Ben demands, looking out towards the direction of the footsteps. The storm was getting crazier by the second, and who knows if Jack even thought about grabbing his coat before running out into it. “What the hell did you guys do to him?”

“It was just a prank Jacky boy!” Niall calls out, though there doesn’t seem to be a single trace of sympathy in his voice. Ben wonders if Niall even cares at all, even feels bad.

“You’re assholes!” Ben snaps at them, zipping his coat up higher before following the footsteps away from the lodge. He doesn’t bother to listen to everyone calling him back, insisting Jack will come back on his own. Ben doesn’t know that: Jack was a sensitive guy and they should have known a prank would have upset him.

He’s suddenly grateful for all those times his father took him through these woods when he was younger, making it easier for him to know where to go. Jack had always complained about those trips, how they were long and boring and never any fun. If Ben was lucky, Jack probably remembered one of the trails and followed it to a place he wouldn’t be bothered.

Pushing past branches, Ben swears he can hear his brother’s muffled sobbing ahead of him. Jack’s footsteps are still fresh in the snow, making it a little easier for Ben to know exactly where he’s headed. The wind nips at his exposed ears as he’s careful to dodge fallen branches and rocks in his way. It’s growing harder to see around him, with the wind picking up and causing the snow nearly blind him. Ben doesn’t care, though. He only cares about finding Jack.

“Jack!” he yells into the storm, looking around him as he runs through the woods. “Jack!”

A sudden roar frightens him, nearly causing him to fall to the ground as he looks up towards the direction of the noise. He can see fire, strange considering they were supposed to be alone on the mountain. He wonders if there was someone else up here, thought it was highly unlikely considering the weather conditions.

He slows down to a walk, squinting as he tries to see past the fog. If Jack wasn’t in such an emotional state right now, Ben would be cursing him for walking so far away from the lodge. It didn’t feel safe out here, that was for sure, and if he didn’t find Jack soon the boy was bound to freeze to death.

Ben hears the crunch of a tree branch then, and he turns towards the sound of the noise just in time to see his twin, sitting down in the snow and crying into his hands. His heart breaks for his brother, Ben removing his coat as he walks towards him slowly. “Jack?”

“Huh?” Jack mumbles, looking up from his hands to see Ben standing there, holding out his coat.

“You’ve got to be freezing,” Ben insists, placing the coat over Jack’s shoulders. He’s chilly now, but he doesn’t really care all that much. He just wants his brother to feel warm, comforted. “Why did you run out here all by yourself?”

Jack sniffles, wiping at his nose with the back of his hand. “I’m an idiot Ben,” he tells his twin, zipping the coat up. “Such a fucking idiot!”

Ben shakes his head at his brother, opening his mouth to tell him how wrong he was when there’s a loud, piercing scream from behind them. He turns, eyes widening in horror at what’s in front of him before he turns to Jack, whose eyes are just as wide in fear.

“Run!” Ben yells, taking off towards the opposite direction as Jack follows behind him. He can hear the crunching of snow as something follows them, something Ben has no clue of what it could be. He’s not sure if what he saw was human, or even an animal, but whatever it was, it was incredibly fast.

Branches begin to scratch and claw at their faces, but the twins don’t seem to care as they run as fast as their legs can take them away from what follows. The only reason Ben comes to a sudden halt is because there was no longer any ground for them to run towards, only a cliff that could send them to their deaths.

“Shit!” Jack cries, reaching for his brother’s hand. “Get away from us!” His grip on Ben’s hand tightens as they back up further towards the edge of the cliff, the brothers both trying to keep calm. It fails soon, as Ben feels himself being tugged backwards as Jack falls over the edge. He can hear his brother’s scream in his ears as he reaches out towards the ledge, hoping to grab something, and thanks every possible thing in the world when his hands come in contact with a branch.

“Hold on!” He yells to Jack, who dangles helplessly from Ben’s other hand. He’s suddenly grateful for all of those gym sessions Jack dragged him to, his upper body strength becoming quite helpful in this situation. He can hear another piercing roar above them, followed by what appears to be fire.

When Ben looks up, a hand makes a sudden appearance, making him scream.

“Grab my hand!” the stranger’s voice yells, stretching their hand out in order to grab Ben’s. It won’t be possible for both of them to make it up, Ben knows that. While he’s grateful for someone to come to their aide, he knows then and there that there wasn’t any way possible that both of them were going to get back up the cliff.

Taking one last glance at his twin, Ben releases his grip on the branch, sending both of them falling.


	2. Momento Mori

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of you are honestly the greatest people, I swear. The reception so far for this fic has been so incredibly sweet, and I love seeing everyone so excited for what is to come!! 
> 
> This chapter is more of an introduction to the characters than anything, though there is important fic details dropped here and there, even a little bit of foreshadowing :) Also, chapter names do come from the chapter names in Until Dawn, at least the ones I received during my playthrough. Enjoy!!

_One year later_

The bus ride towards Blackwood Pines had never been an eventful one. It had always been Ben’s thing, to appreciate nature and adore every single aspect as they passed by the snowy forest. Luke could remember a few years back, when he was forced to sit in the back seat of their father’s SUV while Ben rambled on and on to him about the history of this exact forest, how legends had been told and how far the trails dated back. Luke only pretended to listen to his brother’s ramblings, but looking back on it he wishes that he had listened to them.

He rests his head back against the bus seat, exhaling as the bus rocks back and forth on its way up the mountain towards the Hemmings’ lodge. The only noise he could hear was from the radio up front, which had playing the news coverage Luke had been expecting since he boarded.

_Today is the one-year anniversary of the mysterious disappearance of twins Ben and Jack Hemmings. The two of them were last spotted at their family lodge, before the two of them ran out into a snow storm to never return. While no leads have come from the police, our thoughts and prayers are with the Hemmings family this evening._

Luke didn’t even notice he had begun crying until he suddenly felt someone’s hand intertwine with his, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. He turns his head to face the only other person on the bus, smiling at them warmly. “I didn’t even know I was crying,” he confesses, a light chuckle following.

Ashton gives him a comforting grin, his other hand reaching up to wipe stray tears away from Luke’s face. “It’s alright to cry. You miss your brothers.” He speaks softly as his thumb rubs over Luke’s knuckles, leveling Luke’s breathing. He’s grateful to have Ashton on the drive towards the lodge. Hell, he’s grateful to have had Ashton for the past year since his brother’s disappearances.

After they had got back from the lodge one year ago, Luke had been sent to therapy and counseling. It had been a rough few months, dealing with the loss of his only siblings and struggling to keep up in school when his heart was no longer in it. His entire group of friends were suffering, noticeably, while others seemed to be hiding their pain. Luke couldn’t even remember the last time he had spoken to Louis, Jack’s best friend, before having invited him back to the lodge this year. He felt awful for isolating everyone, but that was his way of grieving: being alone to suffer in silence.

Ashton, on the other hand, had refused to let Luke be alone during this time. He had come with Luke to therapy and counseling, had held his hand as he sobbed over the nightmares that haunted him constantly. While Luke kept telling himself that he was alright, that he could do this on his own, Ashton was the one who had refused to leave him when he needed someone the most. It meant the world to Luke that was for sure.

Along the line, something had developed between the two of them. In the beginning, it was mostly a support system, Ashton having been passed out drunk when the prank and occurred and Luke having not gone after his brother, both felt guilty in some way. They were each other’s support throughout the difficult journey, sleeping over at each other’s houses and making sure the other was eating. Ashton had slowly become Luke’s best friend. It was somewhere in between it all that Luke had developed feelings for the boy, though he had yet to speak up about such feelings. He wasn’t even sure if Ashton would feel the same, and dreaded finding out that Ashton did not share such feelings.

It had been complicated, when Luke had first discovered that he viewed Ashton as something more than a friend. After all, Ashton had been in a long term relationship with Niall since the beginning of high school. Luke was never one to be considered a boyfriend stealer, never even dreamed of it, yet one night, during the summer, Ashton had come to his house in tears, saying that Niall had begun to felt unappreciated in their relationship and had broken up with Ashton. The breakup had given Ashton another thing to be upset about, and of course Luke had been there to pick up all the pieces. He felt as if it was something as a repayment towards Ashton; the boy had been there throughout the sleepless nights Luke called him after a nightmare, in return Luke was there for Ashton during his break up.

Now here they were, heading back up to the lodge together, and Luke wondered if this weekend was finally the time he could tell Ashton exactly how he felt.

“Do you think this was a good idea?” Luke asks slowly, picking at a loose piece of string on one of his winter gloves. “To get all our friends together for another getaway in the lodge? After what happened last year I figured it was a long shot for any of them to even agree.”

It had been difficult, getting his friends to agree to come back. It had originally been Luke’s mother’s idea, having suggested that her son get his friends back together in order to heal her son from the painful memories of the year before. Luke didn’t think it was a terrible idea, though it wasn’t exactly a great one. After all, he was pretty sure his friends wanted nothing to do with him since he abandoned them completely after his brother’s deaths.

Louis had been the first one to agree, telling Luke that it was a great idea to get them all together and honor Ben and Jack’s memories. Harry and Ashley didn’t take too much convincing either, the two of them having missed being together. Luke had even agreed to let Ashley bring her girlfriend, Lynn.

He hesitated when it came to inviting Niall up to the lodge, even hesitated with inviting Geordie. He wasn’t sure how comfortable the two would feel knowing that their exes would be there, and while Luke loved Niall and Geordie just as much as he loved Ashton and Michael, this weekend was about getting over the drama and heartache and becoming friends once more. He didn’t want to deal with confrontation.

Which was also why he almost decided not to invite Mali and Liam.

Mali had been showing remorse over the prank since they got back home a year ago, hoping Luke would accept her apology and forget about what happened. Liam on the other hand had scoffed, telling Luke that Jack should not have been so sensitive. Luke wanted to play hard and not allow either of them to come, but Calum had insisted that his sister show her sorrow and apologize to everyone. Liam, on the other hand, was a last minute addition due to Niall’s persistence. The boy had practically begged on hand and knee for Liam to come, though Luke never knew why.

And just like that, Luke was preparing himself to see his friends all together for the first time since that fateful night.

Ashton shrugs, giving Luke’s hand another squeeze as the bus takes another turn. “Depends: do you think that by getting everyone together again, you would be happier?” Ashton is looking at him with a look of hope, wanting so badly for Luke to just be happy once more. If getting all of their friends together on the anniversary of Ben and Jack’s disappearances was what brought a smile to Luke’s face, Ashton would make sure it went perfectly. All he wants is Luke to be happy again.

Luke looks out the window at the falling snow, wiping at the fog that covers it. “I would. I’ve missed them, missed how close we all used to be before it happened. I feel bad that I haven’t spoken to them since the accident.” The bus comes to a stop outside of a wooden fence, and Luke’s grip on Ashton’s hand tightens. “To be honest? I think this is going to be the greatest weekend ever.”

“That’s the spirit!” Ashton says, getting up from his seat and grabbing his bag. Both boys frown at the lack of warmth from releasing each other’s hands, but try their best not to show it. As soon as they have their gear together they are shuffling off of the bus, the cold air nipping at their exposed skin as Luke unlocks the gate, the two of them heading towards the main entrance.

“Remember last year when the gate was broken and we had to climb over the damn thing?” Luke laughs, unlocking the gate and pushing open the doors. “I remember Louis wouldn’t stop bitching to Harry that climbing over that thing was the reason he tore the back open on his jeans.”

“All I remember is how much of a pain in the ass it was helping Niall over it,” Ashton recalls, a sad chuckle escaping his lips. Luke knew that the break up was still a fresh wound with him, despite it being so many months ago. Luke knew better than to press the subject, not wanting this trip to be about sadness and remorse over what they couldn’t save. He wanted this trip to remind his friends that the best times were when they were all together, that was it.

Taking a chance, Luke reaches for Ashton’s gloved hand once more, intertwining their fingers. It seems to have been the right thing, as Ashton smiles and gives his hand a gentle squeeze back before they continue their walk towards the cable car station. There are a few moments they stop, Ashton insisting that he can catch a few snowflakes on his tongue if he tries hard enough, with Luke laughing as Ashton fails. He can’t help but stare as a few snowflakes fall onto Ashton’s eyelashes though, making the boy look even more beautiful than he was before.

They reach the cable car station easily, one of the lights flicker in lieu of a welcome as they approach it. There is a backpack sitting on the bench outside of the entrance door, a cell phone lighting up and indicating a new message as they approach it. “Looks like Ashley is already here,” Ashton deduces, reaching for the cell phone.

Luke knows they shouldn’t be snooping, and Ashley would definitely kill them for looking through her phone later on. Then again, Luke can’t help but be curious when he sees the name ‘Lynn’ pop up, wondering if the newest addition to their group has gotten lost on her way to the lodge.

“Are you _seriously_ looking through my phone?” Ashley’s voice scolds from behind them, making both boys jump and release each other’s hands. Ashley can’t help but chuckle afterwards, swiping the phone from Ashton’s grasp as a smile graces her features, her thumbs flying across the screen as she responds to the text before shoving the phone in her pocket. “Ashton Fletcher Irwin, didn’t your mother teach you that you should mind your own business?”

Ashton rolls his eyes, lightly punching Ashley’s shoulder. “Shut up and give your best friend a hug will you?” He reaches forward, wrapping his arms around Ashley and squeezing her tightly. Luke smiles at his two friends embracing, knowing that they were the two who seemed to be closest before the whole disaster last year happened. It was nice to see them already reconnecting.

Ashley pulls away then, turning her attention towards Luke and offering a kind smile. “How you feeling buddy? Excited to see all of us again?”

Luke let’s out a laugh, a smile following before he gathers Ashley into a hug. “I am, I really am.” He gives her a friendly kiss on the cheek before digging into his pocket, pulling out the key to the cable car station. “How about we get inside and get ready for this adventure, huh?” The three friends all chuckle as Luke slides the key into the lock, pushing the door open and allowing the others to pile inside. “The cable car should be here any minute now, shouldn’t be too long.”

“I’m so excited!” Ashley squeals, looking up at the mountains. “I’ve missed you guys so much. I honestly didn’t think I would get a chance to see all of you again, after what happened with Luke’s brothers last year. When Luke called me and asked if I wanted to come up here for our annual getaway I was so stoked to see you guys again.” She turns, hands on her hips. “So, when were you guys going to tell me?”

Ashton raises an eyebrow. “Tell you what?”

Ashley rolls her eyes, walking up to Ashton and patting his cheek lovingly. “If this is some kind of revenge for me not telling you about Lynn, I guess you can say we are even now.” She turns towards Luke, who is just as confused as Ashton, and smiles at him. “Besides, and you didn’t hear this from me, I think Luke makes you a lot happier than Niall ever did.”

It’s then that everything clicks into place and now both Luke and Ashton are waving their hands in the air, shaking their heads. “Luke and I are not together,” Ashton explains, and Luke feels his face burn up. “We’ve just been helping each other over the past year, with everything that has gone down. Close friends, you know?”

Ashley nods, but from what Luke can tell she does not seem convinced in the slightest. “Yeah, sure.” To their luck, the cable car pulls up then and Ashley allows the subject to drop. “Let’s get started on this grand adventure, shall we?” She steps inside the car and slides onto one of the seats, Ashton and Luke following. The car then slides backwards, heading up the mountain while the three of them sit excitedly in their seats.

“So,” Ashton starts, wrapping an arm around Luke and resting back against the cable car. “Who else has already arrived?”

“Well,” Ashley says, cracking her knuckles before leaning forward in her seat. “I know Lynn is already up there with Harry and Louis. I think Mali and Calum are there as well, maybe Geordie and Michael. I’m not too sure about Liam and Niall though.” She looks over at Luke, a flash of nervousness on her face before she asks, “Did you even invite Liam, after?”

Luke nods, rubbing the back of his neck. “Niall had insisted. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the idea, but then again this entire trip was supposed to bring all of us together again, you know? If he causes any trouble, we can banish him to the guest cabin ways out from us.” He chuckles at the end of his sentence, and the tension that had threatened to build breaks. “So, how is Louis? I haven’t really spoken to him in a while.”

“Better,” Ashley tells him. “Harry keeps me updated on him, since Louis doesn’t really keep in contact with me anymore. Not since- “she pauses, rubbing her arms for warmth. “Well, you know.”

It had been true: Louis had seemingly cut all of them off entirely after the prank had occurred. Luke remembers only having spoken to him once or twice over the past year, mostly at the funerals and then again once he called Louis up to ask if he wanted to come for the getaway. He felt horrible for not talking to him more, Louis having been his brother’s best friend, but he figured the boy needed his space. After all, Luke was suffering too.

The rest of the ride up to the lodge is silent, the three of them mostly rubbing their arms to keep warm and shuddering over the cold winter air of the mountains. Ashley spoke every now and then, mostly asking how the two of them had been over the past year, but otherwise it was a nice, silent ride towards the lodge. Luke was grateful for that.

Ashton’s hand finds his once more, and as Luke intertwines their fingers, his head clears of all the tragedy of last year and focuses on everything around him. It seemed as Ashton had always had that effect on him.

**

Liam swears he is going to freeze his ass off the longer he waits at the cable car station.

He’s been sitting at the same bench for nearly half an hour now, awaiting the presence of the last remaining friends coming up to the lodge. Not that he really cared much to reunite with every single one of them: he had his own reasons for making sure everyone had finally arrived and it certainly wasn’t to make sure that he saw all of them once again. After all, they were the ones who had ditched him after his hilarious prank.

One year later, and Liam still was unsure as to why everyone was so upset about his prank. It had been hilarious, and Jack had obviously over reacted about the entire thing. After all, who gets so worked up over something that they run off into a snow storm?

Of course, Liam had been upset when he found out that they could not find the twins. They were still his friends, despite how ‘cruel’ the others deemed his prank towards Jack in the end. He mourned with the rest of them, attended the funerals. He wasn’t a completely heartless asshole. It was supposed to be a prank, and his friends just couldn’t take a joke.

He hears the cable car finally come to a halt, a loud squeal indicating that it has arrived. Liam can hear the chatter of the last three friends meant to arrive and brushes the snow off of his coat before heading towards the door, smiling at them brightly from behind the door.

“Hey Li!” He can hear Ashley call from behind the locked door. “Can you press the green button and let us out? We would love you forever if you do!”

Liam chuckles, pressing his finger against the green button and allowing his friends to exit the station. Ashley is the first one out, wrapping her arms around him tightly and squealing about how much she’s missed him. He watches Luke and Ashton walk out as well, taking in their intertwined hands with curiosity. It seemed to him that he wasn’t the only one who had an announcement to make this weekend.

He’s about to comment on them when suddenly the envelope in his hands is snatched up by Ashley, who chuckles as she holds it up. “Now, now, what has our Liam have himself here huh?”

“Give that back Ashley!” Liam demands, reaching for the envelope as Ashley chuckles to herself, moving away.

“Sorry, Li,” she says, though he doubts she really is. “I’m just taking some lessons from Ashton here, making other people’s private conversations my own and snooping around in things I should not be snooping around in.” She gives Ashton a pointed look then, which makes the boy roll his eyes at her. Ashley merely laughs some more, looking down at the envelope and snorting. “Well, well, well! It seems our little Liam here has become infatuated with a certain Niall Horan now hasn’t he?”

Liam’s cheeks flare red as he rips the envelope out of Ashley’s hands, looking between the three of them with annoyance. “Niall and I are dating now, I’m allowed to give him things if I so please.” He turns towards Ashton and Luke, both of whom seem undisturbed by the news. “Besides, it appears if Ashton can move on so easily, why can’t Niall?”

It takes all of the restraint within Luke not to sucker punch Liam then, but it appears that Ashton doesn’t seem bothered by Liam’s comment. There was no sort of denial escaping his lips, no argument, nothing. It was almost as if Ashton didn’t care about Niall’s life anymore. Luke wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing either.

“Okay then,” Ashley breaks the tension, waking towards the path to the lodge. “Let’s head to the lodge. I can hear a warm fireplace and hot chocolate calling for me and who am I to ignore it?” She begins to head up the path while Luke and Ashton follow behind her, only Ashton stopping to turn back towards Liam.

“You coming?” he asks, no hint of malice in his voice.

Liam shakes his head. “Nah, I’m waiting for Niall. He’s supposed to meet me here in a bit. I’ll catch up.”

Ashton nods with a tight smile before following Luke the rest of the way towards the lodge. While he’s trying to play it off, act like he doesn’t really care about Niall moving on, there was still a part of him bothered by the fact that it finally happened. His high school sweetheart really had moved on without him.

Yet, Ashton wasn’t too bothered by the fact, or at least he tried not to be. After all, Luke’s hand fit perfectly in his and the way his heart beat around the boy was something he wasn’t about to ignore. Maybe he could move on too.

**

“Is it _really_ necessary that I carry all of your bags?” Calum whines, adjusting the strap on his own backpack before leaning back down and picking up his sister’s various suitcases. He wasn’t sure why his sister packed so heavily for one weekend, but then again he knew better than to tease her about it. He very much liked having his head attached to his body, thank you very much.

Mali is completely ignoring him anyhow, in favor for complaining of the cold weather and the long walk towards the lodge. “I mean, how hard could it have been to just build the cable car station right next to it anyway? Certainly the Hemmings family has the money for it.” She rubs her arms rapidly in an attempt to warm herself up, her breath escaping her mouth in clouds.

Calum rolls his eyes at her. “I think they like to be smart with their money Mali.” He adjusts his grip on one of her heavier suitcases before beginning to follow her towards the bridge near the lodge, groaning at how cold his fingers were against the handle of Mali’s bags. “Then again, you won’t see me complaining if they decide to hire a bellboy for luggage purposes.”

“Is that whining I hear back there?” Mali jokes, giving her brother a wink and a short chuckle before continuing to walk forward. “Walk a little faster little brother, we are almost there I promise.”

“Do you think this is weird Mali?” Calum asks, asking aloud the question that had been bothering him since they had arrived. His sister turns around to face him, hands on her hips as Calum gently sets her bags down on the wood of the bridge. “I mean, coming back here a year after Luke’s brothers disappeared? Don’t you find it a little odd to get everyone together on the anniversary?”

It’s been bothering Calum since they had received the phone call from Luke. Strange, how Luke wanted everyone involved in the prank to come back up to the mountain it occurred, exactly on the one-year anniversary. At first Calum had assumed it was a way of coping with the tragedy; after all, Calum hadn’t been the best friend in helping Luke cope with the loss of his brothers. As time went on, though, Calum began to wonder what other intentions Luke had in store for them this weekend. He knew Luke was harmless, surely, but Calum had chills just thinking about what could possibly be in store for the weekend.

Mali opens her mouth to give her opinion when suddenly something jumps from a nearby bush, causing both Mali and Calum to jump and scream. As Calum regains his composure, not to mention his breathing, he can hear the familiar chuckling of someone who makes his heart beat just a little bit faster.

“Michael, you immature little shit!” Mali scolds, folding her arms across her chest at the antics of her brother’s best friend. “Don’t scare us like that, you prick.”

Calum can’t help but grin as his best friend howls with laughter, clutching his stomach to prevent himself from doubling over completely. He’s pointing at Calum now, a large smile on his face as he says, “Cal, I swear you almost pissed yourself right there!”

At his friend’s words Calum blushes, though he doesn’t quite mean to. It wasn’t his fault that his heart grew weaker for his best friend every day, and even something such as that made Calum feels gooey inside. It was pathetic, really. “I wasn’t _that_ scared.” He protests weakly.

Michael rolls his eyes, walking forward and gathering Calum into a hug. “Sure buddy, say what you’d like.” He pulls away and looks down at Mali’s bags, a laugh escaping his lips once more. “You are fucking kidding me. Mali, why must you make your poor brother haul everything up to the lodge?”

“I wasn’t going to make him haul them the _entire_ way,” Mali protests weakly, though a mischievous smirk crosses her features after she speaks. “It just happened to be fate that you have now shown up. You can help him carry them while I go and try to find Geordie.”

Michael’s nose wrinkles at the mentioning of his ex. “When did the two of you become friends?”

Mali waves him off, pushing past the two boys into the opposite direction. “Doesn’t matter. Remember, I call the room closest to the bathrooms!” She’s then off towards a different section of the woods, making Michael and Calum groan as they hoist the bags up off the ground and towards the lodge.

“You should have ridden up with me,” Michael says to Calum, fixing the handle on one of Mali’s bags as they head up towards the lodge. “That way she would have had to carry everything on her own. I don’t think it’s fair that she treats you like some kind of servant Cal, brother or not.”

“It’s fine Mikey,” Calum insists, but it doesn’t sound convincing. “I’m just being a good brother is all? I don’t see an issue with that.”

Michael shakes his head, a sweet smile on his face as they continue up towards the lodge. It’s quiet the rest of the way up, mostly just complaining from the two about having to carry the bags. Michael cracks a joke every now and then, Calum laughing until his stomach hurts and they have to stop just so Calum can breathe. It’s his favorite part about being alone with Michael, the jokes and the warm feeling that courses through him.

At first Calum suspected it was just that he loved his best friend. He and Michael had always been close, never one without the other. As time went on, though, it grew into something else entirely, and before Calum knew it he discovered that the feelings he had for his best friend were anything but platonic.

Yet with Michael fresh off a break up and Calum having no desire to ruffle Geordie’s feathers, it appeared to him that Michael wouldn’t know of these hidden feelings anytime soon.

**

Binoculars. They reveal far away things, help you see further out and observe things around you that you normally could not spot with the naked eye. They were an amazing invention, especially in terms of keeping an eye out for specific things.

Specific things, in Geordie’s case, being her ex-boyfriend.

Of course, she had previously been looking through the binoculars just to see anything that was out there. Blackwood Pines still had amazing sights to be seen after all. She couldn’t help it when her line of vision landed on Michael, and Geordie’s heart sank to her stomach the moment she saw whom Michael was walking with.

A lot of people could argue about what exactly broke Michael and Geordie up. They were practically joined at the hip after all, never one without the other situation. The break-up was shocking to a lot of people and managed to throw off Geordie most of all. She hadn’t seen any signs of wrong doing in the relationship, and when Michael had asked for them to break-up she thought she had done something wrong.

It wasn’t until Michael confessed feelings for someone else that Geordie officially felt horrible about the entire thing.

Then again, looking at Michael through the binoculars, it was clear that the boy was happier. He had a large smile on his face as he walked towards the lodge, laughing at something Calum had just said and throwing his head back. It was clear that around Calum, Michael was genuinely happy. That didn’t mean Geordie still couldn’t feel heartbroken about the entire situation. She wished she could hate Calum for making Michael fall in love with him, but she refused to be that type of ex. After all, the number one thing she hoped for was that Michael was happy, simple as that.

Just as she sees Michael lean in towards Calum a person jumps in front of her vision, making her jump backwards with a yelp. She can hear the distinct laughter of Mali, who is currently cackling loudly and holding her stomach. “Mali, damn it!”

“Sorry Geordie,” Mali squeals, her laughter uncontrollable. “I couldn’t help it! You were completely focused and I didn’t think I would scare you _that_ bad!”

Geordie shakes her head, smacking Mali’s shoulder with a light hearted laugh. “Ha, ha. Glad you could scare the shit out of me Mali, I hope it was spectacular.” She gives her friend a sarcastic smile before heading towards the exit of the landing, only for Mali to grab her wrist.

“How were the views?” She asks, jutting her thumb towards the binoculars. “Mind if I take a look at see what’s up?”

“Go for it,” Geordie clears her throat, the uncomfortable vision of her ex and the reason they broke up still fresh in her mind. She wants so badly not to be bitter about the entire situation but of course, a part of her was still hurt.

Mali gives her a grin before peeking through the binoculars, looking across the forest before pouting. “I can’t see anything.” She grumbles, continuing to observe the forest. “All I see is stupid trees and snow fall. You’d think I’d at least see a deer or- “She suddenly gasps, moving away from the binoculars and holding a hand up to her mouth. “Or my brother becoming awfully flirtatious with his best friend!”

Geordie laughs uncomfortably, rubbing her arms. “Really? Weird.”

If Mali notices Geordie becoming uncomfortable about the subject, she doesn’t say anything. Instead she begins to ramble on about how much teasing she’ll give Calum about the situation, all while Geordie listens. Hopefully, this trip could help her get over Michael Clifford.

**

Liam is just reaching for his phone when a snowball comes flying at him, smacking the cable car station. His eyes dart up to meet with his attacker, one with beautiful blue eyes and blond hair hidden underneath a beanie Liam is too sure is his. “You missed,” he quips, a mischievous smile on his face as he balls up some snow to toss back.

Niall just grins at the boy, laughing as Liam’s snowball smacks against his side. “Well I wouldn’t want to hit your face,” Niall insists, taking off towards some trees to gather more snowballs. Liam takes the challenge, hiding behind a tree stump to gather some of his own. If his boyfriend wanted a snowball fight, he was going to get one.

He least expects it when Niall launches at him, tackling Liam into the cold snow and kissing his lips softly. “Hi.” He whispers, gloved hand trailing Liam’s face.

“Hello to you too,” Liam responds with a quick peck, only to lift up his one hand and sending a snowball to the side of Niall’s face. Liam let’s out a loud laugh, rolling them so that Niall was no underneath him as he pins the boy down. “Now, are you going to apologize for pelting me with a snowball?”

“Of course not,” Niall scoffs, bringing Liam’s face down to his for another kiss. “How about this: we go up to the lodge and I can warm you up. Does that sound good?”

Liam wasn’t going to just lie: that sounded fantastic. He and Niall had only been dating for a couple of months, but it was quite possibly the greatest relationship Liam had been in. Liam had been one of the types to sleep around, play the field, but Niall was someone he could truly be with and not want anyone else. It was just pure luck that someone like Niall came along, just out of a relationship that had lasted quite a while and completely heartbroken. Liam was the one who healed him, in more ways than one if you asked him.

Taking Niall’s hand, they begin their own journey up the lodge, the smile never leaving Liam’s face.


	3. Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Three!! I'm trying to keep with an upload schedule of every four days, and considering I only have two chapters left to write, that SHOULD be plausible. (Cheers for pre written chapters!!)
> 
> ALSO SOMEONE MADE A [FAN EDIT](http://lucasashtons.tumblr.com/post/151077810724/namelesswaterlillies-5sos-until-dawn-for) AND YOU SHOULD ALL REBLOG IT
> 
> I also made a playlist!! Listen [here](https://open.spotify.com/user/129163402/playlist/3BNJ2pJ73rgpfTDJmT8d8M)

Luke could not be more relieved when they finally arrived at the lodge, his hands freezing cold and his cheeks feeling frozen. His gloves had done nothing to keep him warm, neither did the beanie resting on his head. The weather was probably the only thing Luke really hated about coming to the lodge every year.

Some of his friends are sitting on the front steps, either talking amongst each other or staring at their now service-less phones. Luke can see Lynn coming down the steps towards Ashley, throwing her arms around her girlfriend and planting a sweet kiss to her lips. Mali and Geordie seem to be whispering something to each other as Michael and Calum arrive, grumbling about how heavy Mali’s bags were. Harry looks exhausted at the bottom step, leaning against Louis’s shoulder for support while Louis tries his best to keep Harry’s long hair from tickling him.

It’s then that Luke realizes just how much he truly missed his friends. All of them together in one place finally feels right again, his heart warming up at the sight of everyone being around each other and interacting as if they had never left. This was a good decision, bringing everyone around again for another year at the lodge. Luke can feel it.

“Why are you all freezing your butts off out here?” Luke asks, chuckling as he pulls Michael and Calum in for a hug. “Get inside, start up the fireplace!”

Louis shakes his head, nudging Harry a bit so the boy would lift his head and allow Louis to get up. “No can do, mate. Door is frozen shut. Got another way into the house?”

“I guess around back could work,” Luke suggests, motioning to one of the windows near the side of the lodge. “Then again I need some help getting through the window to unlock it.” He turns to Ashton, smiling sweetly before asking, “Mind helping me break into my lodge?”

Ashton chuckles, taking Luke’s hand. “Lead the way my friend, but I think I’d rather be the one to climb through the window than you. No offense Lucas but I have more muscle and brawn that could break my fall into the lodge. Wouldn’t want you breaking your arm or something.” He pinches Luke’s arm playfully, making the boy squeal.

Louis lets out a low whistle, a chuckle erupting from his mouth that makes Luke and Ashton turn to face him. “Well, how about you two stop with all the flirting and get your friends so warmth shall we?” He doesn’t miss the way Luke and Ashton’s cheeks flare up with blush at the mention of flirting, choosing to ignore it though to follow them towards the side of the lodge. “Be back in a jiff friends!”

“Lou,” Harry speaks up, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “I don’t think they need another person to help them, why don’t you stay here?”

“Nonsense!” Louis objects, throwing his arms around Luke and Ashton and hugging them. “My two buddies need all the help they can get! I promise, Harold, we will be back in no time with a warm lodge and start up a nice fire along with it! Don’t stress!” He begins to lead Luke and Ashton away from the group, still holding them close as they venture towards the back window.

“Lucas,” Louis stops them, removing his arms from around them in favor of standing in front of the two. “You go ahead and unlock the window, I need to speak with Ashton here for a moment.” He notes how Luke raises an eyebrow at the suggestion, but nevertheless begins to heads towards the window, shaking his head. The minute he is out of sight Louis crosses his arms at Ashton, a chuckle leaving his mouth. “So, when are you going to be taking Luke to the bone zone?”

Ashton splutters, looking around the area they are in as Louis just stands there with a raised eyebrow, awaiting an answer. “That, what? No, that, you, never!” Ashton can feel his cheeks growing hot by the minute at his embarrassment and keeps his head down. “Luke wouldn’t want me that way, no.”

His answer makes Louis laugh, patting Ashton’s shoulder. “That is ridiculous Ash! The two of you were inseparable this past year, and don’t tell me Luke doesn’t feel the same way because, and I did not tell you this, that boy has been head over heels for you for a while now. Alright?”

“We’re friends though,” Ashton protests, adjusting his gloves. “I can’t risk ruining that just because I have feelings for him. You get that, don’t you? I mean, you never told- “He stops himself, noticing Louis expression change from enjoyment to sadness. “Fuck, Lou you know I didn’t mean- “

Louis holds a hand up, shaking his head. “It’s alright, I get it. This situation is just like what happened with Jack and I. Just, don’t wait until Luke vanishes to realize how much he does mean to you. I want you and Luke to be happy, I want Luke to feel happiness again, and I know you do too. I promise you that this will make him happy.” He takes Ashton by the shoulders, guiding him towards where Luke is. “Lucas! You got an idea what we are gonna do?”

Luke turns around from his spot by the window, struggling with moving a table underneath it. “Yeah, I’m gonna need one of you to climb in there and then we should be good. I just can’t move this table,” He pushes it again, huffing before falling over into the snow as another attempt to push the table fails. “Um, help?”

Ashton laughs, picking the boy up from the snow and moving to the other end of the table, moving it the rest of the way without struggle. He can see Luke pouting over this fact, and chuckles before patting Luke’s cheek. “Want me to go in there, bud?”

“Yeah,” Luke nods, watching as Ashton gets up on top of the table and climbs into the open window. Before Luke can tell him where to go, though, Ashton squeals and falls over, landing with a thud onto the basement floor. Luke’s eyes widen, making him get on top of the table himself and peek inside. “Shit, Ash are you alright?”

Ashton groans, giving Luke a thumbs up before getting up off of the floor. “It’s dark in here, that’s all.” He groans, rubbing his back before taking a lighter from his pocket and starting it. “So, what idea do you have to unfreeze the lock Lukey?”

The nickname makes Louis snort, but Luke can’t help but find it endearing. Ashton has taken a liking to calling him that over the past year, and Luke thought it was awfully sweet to have his own nickname from Ashton. “I think I have some spray on deodorant in the bathroom upstairs. Maybe use it as a flamethrower or something on the lock to unfreeze it?”

“Sounds good!” Ashton responds, heading towards the door to upstairs. “If I don’t make it back alive, let my mother know that I love her!”

Luke laughs, shaking his head before hopping off of the table and walking back towards the front door with Louis. He can tell the boy has something to say, Louis always having a witty remark, but doesn’t bother to ask him about it.

*

The minute Ashton has unfrozen the door, all of the friends are bustling into the house and gathering into the living room. Luke has already started to tend to the fireplace, trying to warm up with house as his friends remove their winter clothes and turn the lights on.

“This place hasn’t changed at all, has it?” Ashley sighs, pulling Lynn into her lap on the couch and kissing her girlfriend’s neck sweetly. “Looks exactly how I remember it, despite the police rummaging around it.”

Luke smiles shortly, looking around the living room for a bit. “Yeah, home sweet home.” He mumbles, though it doesn’t sound reminiscent in the slightest. The fireplace eventually flickers to life in front of him, making him back up and shove his lighter back in his pocket before turning to his friends. “Should be warm now, and the heater should start up here soon.”

“This place is beautiful,” Lynn comments, getting up from Ashley’s lap to hug Luke. “Thank you for inviting me here this year, it’s incredibly nice to meet Ashley’s friends.”

“No worries,” Luke assures her, hugging her back tightly before pulling away and smiling at Ashley. “The more the merrier you know.” He turns towards the front door then as it slams shut, Niall and Liam stepping into the room hooting and hollering at their friends.

“Nice to see all of you again!” Liam cheers, ruffling Luke’s hair before gathering Harry into a hug. “Feels like forever since we’ve been up here, hasn’t it?”

Luke chuckles halfheartedly before taking a seat on the couch beside Ashton, removing his gloves. “Make yourself at home guys, go take your bags to your room. I’ll get dinner started up in a second, just need to warm myself up a bit you know.” He holds his hands out towards the fire and sighs, closing his eyes.

Liam laughs, pulling Niall down onto the loveseat with him and kissing his lips. “I’ll gladly make myself at home.”

Luke can feel Ashton stiffen on the couch beside him, but before Luke can reach for his hand to calm the boy down Ashton is getting up and heading towards the kitchen, most likely to remove himself from the same room as his ex and new lover. Luke can’t quite blame him for feeling that way, probably still heartbroken over how everything ended, and is tempted to follow him when Niall says, “What’s the matter Ash? Don’t like seeing me be appreciated?”

Ashton pauses in the doorway, Niall’s words striking his heart. That was the reason he and Niall hadn’t worked out after all, because of Ashton not appreciating him enough. Didn’t mean Ashton deserved to have that thrown back into his face.

Luke can tell everyone’s eyes had diverted towards the confrontation, and fuck, Luke wishes he could say something to ease the tension between everyone. This was the complete opposite of what he wanted when he invited everyone back here. He wanted everyone to enjoy this trip and get along, not have them screaming and fighting with each other before their weekend even began.

“Ash- “he starts, but Ashton doesn’t allow him to finish.

“I’m glad Liam is treating you better than I did,” Ashton says truthfully, and Luke can tell how much it pains him to say that. “You deserve that, you do.”

Liam snorts. “Don’t be so disappointed you didn’t make the cut Ashton. You were not the one wounded in this you know, so why bother acting like it?” He wraps an arm around Niall tighter before turning his attention towards Luke. “You still got that key to the guest cabin? I think Niall and I should go there for some alone time away from all of this.”

Luke couldn’t agree more. “Yeah,” he digs around in his pocket, tossing the keys towards Liam. “Take your time there.” He doesn’t mean to add so much venom to his words, but then again he’s grateful Liam seems to get the message. The boy visibly bristles at Luke’s words, most likely not expecting Luke to have a bite at him, but nonetheless takes Niall’s hand and heads towards the door.

“Well,” Michael says after the door has closed. “Glad to know that is all over. Almost forgot how much of a dick Liam is about everything.” He picks up one of Mali’s bags from the ground, looking over at the girl from her spot beside Geordie. “Hey princess, where do you want these bags to go?”

“Upstairs in the room I had last year please,” she instructs, turning back towards Geordie. “Have Calum remind you where it is if you can’t find it, we had to share last year so he should know where it is.” A mischievous smile appears on her face then as she turns towards them, arms crossed. “I’m assuming Calum is sharing with you this year though, right Mikey?”

The way Michael’s normally pale skin becomes a bright red is hard to miss, though Calum doesn’t seemed to notice his best friend’s embarrassment. “Y-yeah, I guess Cal and I could share this weekend, that doesn’t bother me.” He’s stumbling over some of his words, and Mali has to hold back the laugh she so badly wants to release.

It’s the complete opposite for Geordie, though, who retorts, “I doubt anything Calum could do would bother you Michael, right?”

It’s almost like Liam and Niall hadn’t taken the tension with them. Was it that it was transferred towards Geordie and Michael this time? Whatever it was, Ashton was not going to have it. This was not what this weekend was about for any of them, and he was growing sick of the growing animosity between his friends. He spares Luke a glance as he steps back into the room, noticing that the boy looks completely uncomfortable with everything, and that’s what makes him say, “Enough!”

Everyone turns towards Ashton, surprised that he was the one to burst. “I’m sick of everyone fighting with each other, do you honestly think this is what this weekend was supposed to be about?” He walks over towards where Luke is, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Luke wanted us all here to be friends again and forget everything that has happened. How about we consider the fact that other people are still hurting and this weekend isn’t just so we can all throw our problems at each other, alright?”

Geordie looks down at her feet, while Michael shifts on the stairs. Everyone else seems pretty silent, not wanting to say something they know Ashton will shoot down.

Louis clears his throat then, heading off towards the stairs. “I think we should play something fun, ease the tension? Luke, do you own any card games, board games, anything fun that could help get the obvious chill out of here?”

“I think the only thing we have is the Ouija board in the basement, Jack used to think this place was haunted and insisted we get one,” he points over towards the stairs to the basement, and right then he notices the frightful glances of his friends. “We don’t have to use it you know! I’m just saying that is the only thing remotely close to a game around here.”

“Summoning the dead is not a joke Luke,” Geordie says, walking up the stairs and pushing past Michael and Calum. “I’m taking a nap.” No one bothers to stop her, with the exception of Mali, who trails up the stairs behind her and swipes her remaining bags from Michael and Calum.

“I can go find the Ouija board,” Michael volunteers, and before Luke can even begin to protest the boy is taking off towards the basement, Calum rolling his eyes but following anyways.

Ashton sighs, turning to look at Luke. “Well, I do believe I’d rather take a bath than enjoy a séance. Do you mind showing me where the boiler room is so I can get some hot water?” He’s wearing that award winning Ashton Irwin smile that Luke has fallen for countless times, and the boy sighs before nodding and following Ashton towards the direction Michael and Calum went.

“Don’t have too much fun down there!” Harry calls to them, earning some snickering from the remaining friends.

Luke rolls his eyes. “Don’t have too much fun up here without us! You know Louis, he’s a jokester!” He chuckles before taking Ashton’s hand and heading towards the basement. It’s all too familiar now, Ashton’s hand in his as they walk together. It’s a strange thing, at least to Luke, that they are only holding hands as friends and nothing more. As far as Luke knew, Michael and Calum would never allow him to hold their hands. He’s pretty sure Michael would sarcastically yell out a ‘no homo!’ just to embarrass him.

Luke is not about to complain, though. He’s not sure if he and Ashton would ever be anything more than the close friends they are now. If the only contact he can receive from Ashton is hand holding, so be it. He’s more than happy to have just that.

“You know,” Ashton says once they’ve reached the stairs to the basement, Luke rustling around in one of the drawers in the small living room area for a flashlight. “I find it strange how quick Michael wanted to go grab the Ouija board, not to mention how Calum just eagerly tagged along.” He takes the flashlight from Luke and flicks it on. “Do those two seem closer than last year to you?”

Luke shrugs, opening the basement door and descending down the stairs. “I guess they seemed a little closer, but they’ve always been that way Ash. Maybe Michael’s break up with Geordie had them bond in some way.” Probably explained her bitter tone earlier, which for sure was a possibility. “You think there is something else going on?”

Ashton scoffs, turning around to face Luke and smile. “Of course there is something there Luke! Those two may have been friends for ages, but now they are slowly and surely entering the love tunnel. I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of this weekend the two of them are holding hands and sharing cute little kisses by the fireplace.”

It wouldn’t be a bad thing, Luke agrees. After all Michael and Calum seemed completely perfect for each other in every sense of the word. If Luke didn’t get his shit together with Ashton by the end of this trip, the least he could do was help his other friends get theirs together.

“I’m really glad you are here Ashton,” Luke says then, making the boy stop and face Luke once more. “Really, it means a lot to me that you and everyone else came again. It’s been incredibly rough, but it makes me so happy that everyone is back here. I’ve missed everyone.” He blushes a little before adding, “It’s just nice to have you here, especially with how much you’ve helped me the past year.”

“Of course,” Ashton responds, pecking Luke’s cheek quickly. The spot tingles were Ashton’s lips brushed, but Luke cannot comment on it as Ashton continues to search along the basement for the boiler. “You’re my best friend Lukey, I’d do just about anything for you.”

Luke pretends his heart doesn’t almost explode at Ashton’s words, only wordlessly following the boy towards the boiler. It’s not difficult to get the thing started, but considering it had been a whole year since Luke had been to the lodge, it would take some time to remember just how to get things moving. “You didn’t have to come down here you know,” Luke tells Ashton, kneeling down at the boiler to observe what he needs to do. “I could have done this by myself if you had asked.”

Ashton shrugs. “Figured you wouldn’t want to be alone down here. After all, this basement is giving me the chills. Not good chills, by the way.” He looks around the basement, arms wrapped around himself as Luke observes the boiler. His eyes come across a lacrosse stick leaning against a pile of boxes, and he chuckles. “Fuck, I remember when you loved lacrosse. What ever happened to lacrosse super star Luke Hemmings, huh?”

Luke snorts. “I sucked ass, you knew that,” he gets up from his crouch and takes the stick from Ashton, observing it in his hands before leaning it back against the boxes. “Besides, you know I’d rather write and play guitar than play sports. Not really the athletic type, unlike you Mr. Soccer Player.” He hands Ashton the flashlight before kneeling down again. “Shine this for me? I can’t see very well holding it myself.”

Taking the flashlight, Ashton shines it towards the boiler as Luke observes once more, pressing a few buttons as he figures out what exactly he’s doing. It’s only when a sudden clattering noise sounds that Ashton turns away, flashlight shining across the room. “Luke did you hear that?”

Luke gets up from his crouch once more, looking around. “I doubt it was anything serious. Now come back here and shine the light, okay? I need some light in order to see what I’m doing.” He goes back to his position, though the feeling crawling on Ashton’s skin doesn’t seem to go away. Maybe it was just the house creaking, the place was kind of old anyhow. Ashton was overreacting, he was sure that was it.

A loud roar makes Ashton jump as Luke smiles up at him, closing the boiler doors. “That, is some hot water for you.” He holds up his hand for a high five, one that Ashton returns eagerly and gives Luke a matching grin.

Of course, the moment doesn’t last long as another noise rings into their ears, making Ashton turn. “Okay, you had to have heard that one.”

Luke sighs. “It’s nothing to worry about, alright?” He pokes Ashton playfully in the ribs, making the boy jump and giggle. “You are so ticklish it is insane.”

“I am not!” Ashton pouts, poking Luke in the same spot. The other boy squeals just as loudly as Ashton did, making the two of them crack up. It’s the comfortable feeling Luke loves that comes with being around Ashton, and it’s nice to just have the two of them down here alone. Despite the fact it was in his creepy basement, anyway.

More noises creak, and this time Luke isn’t sure if it’s the house. “Let’s go check this out, shall we?” he says, taking Ashton’s hand once more as they approach the stairs. He hopes it’s just the pipes, maybe even the wind roaring outside that is playing with them.

It isn’t until a figure pops out at them, hockey mask and a robe that Luke screams. His grip on Ashton’s hand tightens as the two of them dash towards the stairs, Luke making sure to knock down a few things to make sure whomever is chasing them trips at least.

They reach the door to the basement easily, though Luke doesn’t understand why Ashton is having such a hard time opening it. “It’s fucking locked!” Ashton cries, pushing on the door roughly in an attempt to get it open. “Fuck! Why is it locked?”

“To keep strangers out!” Luke shouts back, shoving his own body weight against the door. The stranger comes to a complete stop in front of them, waiting to pounce it seemed, when suddenly they start to laugh. A familiar laugh.

“Michael, god damn you!” Luke shouts, shoving the boy as he removes the hockey mask and the hood from his head. Sure enough, it is Michael underneath it all, laughing so hard he clutches his stomach. “That wasn’t funny Michael!”

“Yeah it was!” Michael howls, wiping a fake tear away before knocking twice on the door. The door opens instantly, a laughing Calum standing behind it as he high fives Michael. Ashton seems to just roll his eyes about the entire prank, but Luke is still trying to catch his breath. He’s always been the easiest one to scare out of all his friends, and he swears one day it’s going to kill him.

The four of them head back towards the living room, where their friends are all now gathered around the fireplace in a circle. Lynn notices the four of them enter the room and gets up from her spot, clapping her hands. “I can’t believe we are actually going to be using an Ouija board! Do you think it actually works?”

“Of course it works,” Ashley insists, pulling Lynn back down into her lap. “I say we have Calum lead it, since he has always been the voice of reason.”

“You flatter me Ms. Frangipane,” Calum jokes, sitting across from her on the floor and grabbing the board off of the couch. “Ash, Luke, care to join us?”

Ashton shakes his head, heading up the stairs. “Nah, I have a hot bath in my future. Thanks for the invitation though!” He turns back a little and looks towards Luke, offering a sweet smile. “Be careful with it, okay? I’d like all of you to be alive by the end of the night!”

Luke nods, turning back towards his friends with a light tint of pink of his cheeks. As the jokes of his obvious feelings come pouring from their mouths, Luke just accepts them for once. He knew it was true: he was too far gone for Ashton Irwin.

“Alright,” Luke says, clapping his hands together and sitting beside Calum in the circle. “Let’s see who we can contact with this thing.”


	4. Haunted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where things begin to get interesting!! I'm incredibly excited for this chapter, as well as the future ones, mostly because all of the excitement is finally beginning. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do :)

In all honesty, Calum was not up for a round with the Ouija board. Granted, his only knowledge surrounding the popular game was from movies and stories dumb teenagers shared around the internet, but that was enough to make him know that he shouldn’t be fucking around with the spirit realm.

Then again, he didn’t want to have his friends think he was a wuss. He could stick out one round, right?

“It says here, to communicate with the spirit world you must free your mind of all preconceptions, drop all inhibitions, and generally give yourself over entirely to the will of others, sublimating your every desire to the whim of the Spirit Master,” Michael instructs, a smirk growing over his lips. “Which, of course, is me.”

Lynn rolls her eyes, adjusting herself on Ashley’s lap. “It doesn’t say that!”

Michael holds a finger up at her in a scolding manner, wagging it back and forth. “I have not finished yet Ms. Gunn, please do not interrupt the Spirit Master,” he clears his throat. “All present will remove their garments at my sole discretion-“

Now it was Luke’s turn to groan. “Michael this is serious, c’mon.” Michael goes to open his mouth once more but Luke is quick to hold a finger up to Michael’s lips, shaking his head. “Not another word out of you, alright? Let’s just get this over with.”

Sighing, Michael reaches for the pointer on the board, everyone else placing a finger on it as well. “Fine, let’s do this.” He looks towards Calum, noticing the boy’s look of worry and grins. “How about since you’ve never played before, you be our medium cuzmuffin?”

Calum looks about to protest, mouth gaping like a fish before letting out a huff and closing his eyes. “Alright, I guess I can do that.” Everyone gathers around him, focused on the board as Calum clears his throat. “Is anybody here with us? If you are here with this could you make your presence known?” It’s ridiculous, really. Calum knows ghosts do not exist and the board is just some stupid thing-

“It’s fucking moving!” Lynn gasps and Calum can’t help but gasp along with her as the pointer drags across the board. “Which one of you is tugging it?”

Harry shakes his head. “I don’t think any of us are!” He’s got a sparkle in his eye as the pointer moves around the board some more, green eyes trailing every letter it spells out. “It says ‘Help’, what on Earth would a spirit want our help with?”

“And who needs help exactly?” Louis inquires, turning towards Calum. “Ask the spirit, medium! We need to know who we are helping and what they want! Onward!”

Calum shakes his head, still taking in the fact he’s even bothering playing this ridiculous thing before asking, “How can we help you?” He looks around, but it’s not long before the pointer moves once more, Michael cheering as it slides across to different letters. “’Warning’? Warning about what?”

“We seriously need to figure out who exactly we are helping here,” Ashley tells them. “What’s the point of asking it more and more questions if we have no idea who it is we are helping? Calum, ask who this person is.”

Michael tuts, shaking his head. “Now, now Ashley, who even knows if the one calling out for help is a person? For all we know this spirit could be one of the ancients who resided on this mountain. We should formally address them as a spirit, to be kind.” He places his free hand on Calum’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “C’mon Cal, let’s figure out who this spirit is.”

“Okay,” Calum bites his bottom lip before asking the board, “What are you warning us about exactly?”

The pointer moves once more, the motions faster than the times before. It takes them a moment to see all of the letters it points to, but it’s clear whom they are speaking with when Luke blurts out, “Brother. It, there is no way-“

Everyone looks up at him, sorrow and sympathy in their faces as they realize whom they are speaking with. After all, no one else in the room could possibly have a dead brother speaking with them. “Luke,” Calum says softly, reaching his hand out. “You don’t think it’s possible that Ben or Jack are speaking with us, do you?”

Luke shrugs. “I don’t know.” He looks Calum directly in the eye. “Ask the board which brother it is. I need to know which one we are speaking with.”

Calum nods. “To whom are we speaking with?” He asks gently, keeping his one hand atop of Luke’s just in case. “Jack? Is it you?”

Everyone collectively gasps as the pointer slides over to ‘yes’.

Luke’s not sure what to believe. It was a dumb idea, to play with a stupid spirit board that could possibly be just another stupid prank pulled by his friends. It wasn’t possible that is brothers were dead, they were just missing. They could still be out on that mountain, maybe safe somewhere with someone else. He refused to believe they were dead, it just wasn’t something he wanted to believe.

“Are you alright?” Lynn asks him softly, offering the kindest of smiles. “We don’t have to play anymore if you are uncomfortable Luke.”

“I agree with Lynn,” Louis speaks up, looking just as broken as Luke in the moment. “This must be hard for you, and we really don’t want you to have to speak with your brother if it is just going to be painful.”

Luke doesn’t want to continue if he’s being honest. The whole thing was completely stupid. Yet, there was a part of him that needed to know what happened to his brothers, and if this stupid spirit board was his only chance at finding out what exactly happened to his brothers that night they went missing, so be it.

“I need to know,” Luke responds, turning to Calum. “Please, just ask what happened.” He holds back the tears in his eyes, fighting to be strong about the situation. “I can handle it.”

Calum doesn’t look too sure about it but turns back towards the board anyway. “Jack? We miss you buddy, every single day we all miss you more and more. We were hoping you could tell us what happened to you and Ben that night if you could please give us that?”

The pointer moves once again, faster as each letter goes by. Luke doesn’t understand as the board spells out two words, this time, his eyes widening as what it says. “’Betrayed?’ ‘Killed?’” He chokes, tears making their way to the surface. “That, no, they can’t be dead!” He turns to his friends. “How fucking far did your prank fucking go?”

Ashley bites her lip, looking ashamed once more at the mention of the prank. They all regretted it, even a year later. This séance was like dumping salt on a fresh wound. “We swear to god we didn’t kill your brothers Luke! Them running out into the woods was never a part of the prank I swear!”

Luke gets up from his crouch, removing his finger from the pointer. “Fuck you all, okay! If you guys hadn’t performed that stupid prank in the first place my brothers could be alive right now!”  None of them bother to chase after him as he storms up the stairs, wiping away tears and tugging at his hair. Ashley can feel ice in her heart at the scene, the bitter feeling of even being a part of that stupid prank becoming worse in her stomach.

“We need to know more,” Michael insists, looking at his friends for approval. “For Luke at least. Shouldn’t we figure out what killed his brothers, or at least what happened to them? It’s only fair.”

Calum doesn’t want to. In all honesty, he wants to run after Luke and comfort his friend. Then again, it would be nice to know what happened to Ben and Jack that night. Wouldn’t it give something to ease Luke’s mind? “I guess we can finish this,” he decides, adjusting the pointer back into the center of the board. “Jack, what happened to you and Ben?”

Two more words, ‘Library’ and ‘Proof’ are spelled out. “What kind of proof would be in there?” Louis questions. “I mean, didn’t the police search this entire place? You’d think they would have found something!”

As the friends consider their options, Lynn shrieks as the pointer is suddenly tugged away from them, tearing across the living room floor and away from them. She holds a hand to her chest, getting up off of Ashley’s lap and trying to catch her breath. “I think I need a drink.” She decides, backing away from the board and entering the kitchen. Ashley follows after her, shortly followed by Harry.

“You two should check out the library,” Louis insists, folding the board back up and placing it in the box. Michael and Calum take a quick glance at each other before Louis sighs. “It couldn’t hurt, right? Besides, I think it would be best if I go talk to Luke and see if he’s alright. The two of us were closer to Jack and I think it would be for the greater good if it was me he spoke to.” He waves goodbye before bounding up the stairs towards Luke’s room, leaving Michael and Calum along in the living room.

“Should we do it?” Calum asks, getting up off of the floor. “Do you really think something could be in the library?”

“Doesn’t hurt to try,” Michael responds before grabbing the flashlight from the drawer, flicking it on. “C’mon, let’s go snoop around.”

*

The guest cabin is beautiful, that was for sure. It had two bedrooms inside of it, a small bathroom connecting them. The living room was quite large with a small kitchenette residing off near the entrance to the bedrooms. It was quiet, quaint, and the perfect place to get away from the drama and annoyance their friends brought.

Niall throws his hands out and falls against the couch, sighing as Liam begins to start up the fireplace. “This is exactly what I needed this weekend,” he sighs, closing his eyes and leaning against the couch cushions. “It’s so warm, cozy, and free.” He leans up, making grabby hands at his boyfriend with a pout on his face. “Now get your ass over here so I can be warmer Li.”

Liam chuckles, backing away from the fire before walking towards his boyfriend and pulling him into his arms. He playfully nibbles on Niall’s neck before smiling against the boy’s skin. “It is nice, being away from everyone else. I can have you all to myself out here.” He mumbles something else to himself, something that Niall doesn’t quite catch.

“What was that babe?” he asks, eyes rolling back into his head as Liam continues to press sweet kisses against his neck. He knows he shouldn’t bother with trying to decode what was said, to just enjoy the pleasure coursing through his body at Liam’s lips.

“I said,” Liam backs off of Niall’s neck, leaning in close so their noses brush. “I’m glad that not even Ashton Irwin could ruin this perfect moment.” He kisses Niall’s lips sweetly, pressing against them gently before capturing his boyfriend’s bottom lip and swallowing the moan that rises from Niall’s throat.

It was no secret to Niall that his boyfriend hated Ashton. It was Liam that had to listen to Niall’s sobs as Ashton pushed him further and further away after the past year. Niall felt like he was being cast off in favor of Luke Hemmings, and while Niall understood that Ashton was just being a good friend, it felt as if Luke was slowly replacing him as Ashton’s boyfriend. Eventually, he couldn’t take being second anymore and got out of the relationship. Liam welcomed him with open arms, and ever since Niall couldn’t be happier with Liam.

He loved him, he was sure about that.

“We should put on some mood music,” Liam smiles against Niall’s lips, pecking them once more. “I wouldn’t mind having sex with you to the tune of some sweet music. Mind plugging your phone in babe?”

Niall chuckles at Liam’s suggestion, digging into his pants pocket in search of his phone. It’s then that he frowns, checking his coat pocket before groaning. “I must have lost it,” He says with a huff. “I guess we have to live without Usher serenading us into climax, is that alright with you?” It’s a joke, one that leaves Liam chuckling before swooping in for another kiss.

Eventually, they find themselves without their shirts, dangerously close to naked territory as Niall feels Liam’s hand slide into his boxers. He throws his head back as Liam flicks a thumb over the head of his dick, biting his bottom lip so he doesn’t release the loud moan rising in his throat.

It’s then that something shatters in the bedroom, making the two of them jump in fright. Liam’s hand disappears from Niall’s boxers as the two of them look in the direction of the bedrooms, eyes wide. “What the hell was that?” Niall whispers, looking back at Liam. “Can you go check it out?”

Liam scoffs. “Why do I have to?” he frowns, getting up off of his boyfriend and grabbing his flashlight. He ventures into the bedroom, his ears tuning to the sudden sound of what he believes is Usher as he comes to a stop in front of a shattered window, Niall’s phone of all things resting amongst the glass shards. “Um, babe? I found your phone.”

Niall raises an eyebrow, getting up off of the couch and entering the bedroom. “My phone?” he questions, noticing the device in Liam’s hand. “How is it my phone?”

“I’m not sure,” Liam says suspiciously, peeking his head out the window before looking back at Niall. “Do you think those assholes could have followed us out here?”

Niall huffs. “Fuckers probably did. God knows Ashton wants to ruin the only fun I’m having on this trip.” He takes the phone out of Liam’s hands and heads for the front door, anger coursing through him as he kicks the door open and stands out on the porch, nothing but his jeans keeping him warm from the cold.

“ _Hey!”_ Niall yells out into the wind, winter biting at his exposed skin. “You fucking pricks! I know you are out there right now, probably having a mighty good laugh! What the fuck is your problem, huh? Ashton? Is this your idea of ruining your ex’s attempt at moving on to someone better than you? It’s fucking childish! Guess what Ashton? Liam and I are going to _fuck._ You hear me? We are going to have hardcore sex, and it doesn’t matter what you fucking do because I won’t be able to hear you over my own _screams_ as Liam fucks me better than you _ever did!”_ With a final huff, he storms back into the house, slamming the door behind him. Liam stares at him, eyebrow raised as Niall comments, “Give me a fucking break!”

Liam nods, shaking his head. A part of him wonders if his friends really were that immature, to come out all this way to torment them. Then again, he hasn’t exactly been all that kind to them, to begin with. Maybe this was their way to give him a taste of his own medicine?

He reaches forward, hoping to take Niall’s hand and lead him towards one of the bedrooms to continue where they left off, but he doesn’t get that chance. Before he can even take a step Niall is suddenly being grabbed from behind, screaming and thrashing as an unknown figure pulls him through the front window. Liam needs to do something, he knows he needs to something, but all he can do is watch in horror as his boyfriend is dragged through the window, his screams echoing in the winter air.  

*

“Do you really think Luke’s brothers were the ones speaking with us?” Calum asks as he and Michael head towards the library, Calum holding a lantern up so they can see. “Do you think it’s possible that the two of them were even able to communicate with us at all?”

Michael doesn’t even know for sure. It was terrifying enough that there was a possibility the library would lead to some clue on how the two died, he didn’t even want to consider the fact that they were haunting the friends. It all seemed terrifying, and Michael wasn’t one for things he didn’t have control over.

“We should find out,” Michael responds, pushing open the door to the library. Nothing looks out of the ordinary, all of it appearing to be quite normal as they search around for something, anything. Michael’s skin crawls as they search the library, though, just the thought of finding evidence of the twins disappearances. He reaches for the bookshelf, hoping to push some books away to see if there was anything beside them when he drops one of them, the book landing directly on his foot and making Michael hiss.

“Are you alright?” Calum asks him, picking the book up and placing it back on the shelf. “You should be a little more careful.” He looks towards the bookshelf when he suddenly cocks his head to the side in confusion. “Is that a button?”

Calum shines the flashlight towards the bookshelf, where a small, silver button rests behind some of the books. “Why on Earth would there be a button on a bookshelf?” Michael questions, stepping closer to observe it. “Do you think Luke might be Batman or something, and his secret lair is behind this bookshelf?”

Calum snorts. “I highly doubt that.” Curious, he leans forward and rests his finger on the button, pressing it before backing away and cowering behind Michael. The bookshelf creaks and moans before swinging open slowly, revealing a small room behind it.

“I fucking knew it,” Michael whispers, taking the lantern from Calum and stepping forward. “The Hemmings family has always been fucking creepy, I knew they would have some sort of hideout around here somewhere.” Taking Calum’s hand, the two of them step forward into the room, observing the stone walls and various folders lying about.

A picture on the desk catches Michael’s attention, leaving him to shine a light on it to observe closer. It’s a picture of the Hemmings twins, both Jack and Ben smiling brightly at the camera. Jack seems to be showing off his tattoo, one he got done just a year before he went missing. It was one of a black butterfly, flames at the tip of its wings and leaving a trail of fire behind it. Michael remembers the boy wouldn’t shut up about the thing for ages, and at that moment he kind of misses Jack’s ramblings about the stupid tattoo.

That is until he flips the picture over.

“Holy shit,” Michael sucks in a breath, reading the words written on the back over and over again in horror. “Calum, I think I found the proof the Ouija board wanted us to find.” He hands the photo over to Calum, the boy reading aloud what it says on the back of the card.

“ _These fucking twins, I will skin them alive! Can’t wait to carve their soft skin piece by piece, little Jack and Ben!”_ Calum’s stomach twists as he reads the words. “Michael, we need to show this to Luke. We need to find him right now.”

Michael nods, taking the picture back from Calum and storing it in his coat before exiting the library. The photo feels heavy in his pocket, the words echoing in his mind. He doesn’t know who could possibly want any of the members of the Hemmings family dead, the family having never made enemies. The entire situation was terrifying, and if there was someone on this mountain stalking them right now, it was going to get worse.

There’s a sudden rattling of the doors to the kitchen, making the two boys jump in fright. “What was that?” Calum whispers, sliding his hand back into Michael’s for comfort. He can hear yelling come from the other side of the door, yelling that sounds awfully familiar in Calum’s ears. “It’s Louis and Luke!” He cries, stepping forward the open the doors.

The moment he turns the handle the doors rip open, someone pulling Calum through and slamming the door shut. Michael can hear as Calum lets out a scream before a loud thud, his heart picking up pace as he slams himself against the door. “Calum!” he shouts, pushing harder on the door to open it. “ _Calum!”_

He couldn’t bear the idea of his best friend being in danger, and if he had to force the door down in order to protect Calum, he would. He gives the door one last shove, and before he knows it the door opens up, forcing Michael to fall into a pile on the floor. He looks up, heart stopping when he sees Calum slumped on the floor knocked out. “Cal!” he shouts, though he cannot move towards the boy as another figure steps forward, kneeling down beside Michael and swinging their fist into Michael’s face.

The last thing Michael sees is a white mask.


	5. Loyalty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, um, this is the chapter that the Character Death tag comes into play?? Please be safe reading this, as the deaths are pretty graphic and I don't want any of you feeling triggered. I did warn you, after all.

_“Niall!”_ Liam screams into the cold winter night, looking around for where his boyfriend could have possibly been dragged to. He can see some footprints in the snow, leading off towards a lower part of the mountain and he swears underneath his breath. Grabbing his shoes and coat, he shatters the glass covering one of the rifles in the cabin, suddenly grateful that Mr. Hemmings kept some weapons out there.

Bursting out the front door, Liam begins to follow the footprints down a trail, rifle in one hand and a lantern in the other. With the wind and snow mixed together it’s hard to see where he’s heading, nearly smacking his head against a few branches along his way. Eventually he comes to a fork in the road, where the trail continues or leads towards the river.

“Fuck it,” Liam says underneath his breath, taking off towards the river. There’s a small bridge that leads across, though it’s icy. Keeping his balance, Liam manages to walk safely across the bridge and jumps off near the end, taking off into a sprint and following the path once more. He can’t bear to think of what might happen to Niall if he doesn’t make it to him in time, and he certainly doesn’t want to find out.

He gets to a small cliff, this time taking the opportunity to look through the scope of his rifle. He can see the footprints once more, following them towards the right up the path. His heart soars when he sees Niall crawling away, knowing that his boyfriend was still alive was enough. It wasn’t until Niall let out a piercing scream, something grabbing his leg and dragging him further down the path that Liam gets up from his crouch and drops down.

He feels like he’s running forever, following the footsteps down the trail in an effort to rescue Niall. He can still hear Niall’s screams in the distance, and it makes his heart ache at the thought of what was going to happen to him. The thought made Liam run faster than before, eventually finding wooden steps that lead further down the mountain.

He’s careful with his steps on the stairs, thankful that he hasn’t fallen through the creaky wooden panels as he holds on tightly to the lantern and rifle. Niall’s screams can no longer be heard, and Liam’s heart continues to sink further into his stomach. There wasn’t a chance in hell Liam was going to lose him.

The stairs seemed to lead down into a mining shaft, a long rail track guiding Liam further in. He could hear what he hoped was Niall screaming, the sound echoing off the walls of the mines as Liam travelled further in. It grew darker and darker as he approached his destination, Liam grateful the lantern was still intact.

Liam hears a screech then, one that doesn’t sound at all like Niall. He supposes there could be bats down here, disturbed by all the racket, but Liam could not be too sure. It sounded terrifying, though, piercing and loud. The noise made Liam’s skin crawl as he adjusted his coat, becoming colder and colder as the path went on.

The rail suddenly ends, and Liam looks up to see an elevator just ahead. It appears to be a dead end from there, and before Liam can pray and hope that the elevator works to take him further into the mines, something falls from up above, crashing into the elevator and making a guttural sound.

Liam slowly approaches the elevator, rifle in hand just in case whatever fell attacks. He swallows quickly to coat his drying throat, only to choke on his saliva when he sees exactly what fell, or who fell to be exact.

“ _Niall!”_ Liam cries, crouching down to his boyfriend with tears in his eyes. Niall’s body is scratched up, bloodied and bruised from head to toe. There’s streaks of blood mixing with the blond in his hair, but that wasn’t even the worse thing of it all. Whatever had taken Niall, had completely ripped his jaw off, leaving Niall’s tongue dangling out and his once bright blue eyes dead and cold.

He was dead, because Liam wasn’t fast enough.

“ _No!”_ Liam screamed, choking on his sobs as he stared at his boyfriend’s dead body. “Niall, I’m so sorry. I could have saved you, I could have-“

Alas, Liam’s last words to his boyfriend were cut short by a sharp, piercing sensation in his stomach. Blood spits from his mouth as he looks down at his stomach, gasping as he saw what looked almost like _claws_ sticking out of his stomach. His vision becomes blurry and before he breathes his final breath, the claws are ripped out of him and he’s collapsing onto Niall’s body, one last dying breath escaping his lips.

That’s when the elevator falls, sending both of their bodies deep into the mines.

*

Luke’s head was _pounding._

He doesn’t remember much, though he does recall an argument with Louis. The topic of their fight was something so little, and Luke wasn’t sure if it was Louis who had swung at him in the end or if another person happened to get to him. Either way, his head hurt and he’s currently on the floor of the kitchen.

He tries not to get up too quickly, his vision a bit blurry and his legs unsteady. He leans against the kitchen counter for support as he gets up, grabbing one of the flashlights left on the counter and flipping it on so he can look around. Nothing in the kitchen seems out of the ordinary, almost like there wasn’t even an intruder at all. Maybe it was Louis that smacked him after all.

Luke approaches the door to the living room cautiously, careful and aware in case someone is behind the door. He slowly turns the handle as he steps into the room and looks around, flashing the flashlight over various pieces of furniture. The only sound he can hear is of the fireplace, still warming the room despite no one being there. As he steps closer into the room, his flashlight catches something red on the wall, and Luke nearly pukes at the sight of it.

It’s blood.

“Oh god,” Luke clutches his stomach, the swirling sensation inside of him threatening to make him puke. He shines the flashlight elsewhere, walking past the gruesome sight before disappearing towards the back entrance to the lodge. He’s not sure where Louis could have disappeared to, nor does he seem to have an idea of where the rest of his friends went. It’s almost as if everyone had vanished, leaving him alone wondering what was happening.

Nothing seems out of the ordinary when Luke steps outside. The winter air is freezing on his skin, despite his jacket, but there doesn’t seem to be any footprints or blood. Taking a deep breath, Luke begins to walk towards the shed, hoping that maybe there was one of his friends there that he could speak with. Maybe they saw something, maybe they saw someone. Either way, Luke would feel a lot safer knowing his friends were alright.

He enters the shed cautiously, flashing his light around and observing his surroundings. Again, nothing seems out of place, but there was still something about the shed that left him with a strange feeling inside. It isn’t until he flashes his light towards the ground that he notices faint traces of blood leading towards the attached garage, and now the sickening feeling was rushing back.

Luke debates following the trail, not wanting to discover just what it led to. He could only hope it was a dead animal that came into the shed on complete accident, leaving bloody footprints before completely dying in the garage. Either way, Luke needed to figure out just what it was to rid himself of the sickness in his stomach.

As he turns the corner towards the garage, he’s surprised to find that the door has been locked. Luke doesn’t recall ever locking the door, never really needing to have it locked. He pushes himself against it, attempting to shove it open, but stops when suddenly the lights around him are flickering on. The window into the garage becomes evident, and as Luke peers through it, the sickness he’s been feeling comes flooding back.

Louis was in there, but he wasn’t alone. Tied up against a wooden board was Ashton, his head hanging low and what appeared to be blood on his chest. Both of the boys were unconscious, hands tied above their heads and blood decorating their clothing as a voice begins to speak from one of the intercoms inside of the shed.

“Hello there, thank you all for joining me here on this cold, winter night!” a deep, dark voice begins, making Luke’s skin crawl. He can see Ashton and Louis stirring awake, both of them confused and fighting against their restraints as they look up towards the window. Luke can see tears pricking both Ashton and Louis’s eyes as they look around the room, both of them shouting at Luke for help.

But there was nothing he could do.

“Tonight, we are going to have a little test,” the voice continues, and Luke runs towards the door once more in an attempt to open it. “Of course, for this test to be conducted, we must have two, brave volunteers step forward. In this case, we have Ashton and Louis. The catch? Another participant helps decide which of these two gets to survive. Lucas Hemmings.”

“What is _happening?”_ Ashton cries, tugging on his restraints as a saw in front of the window begins to whir to life. Luke’s eyes widen in horror as he notices the tracks on the ground leading to his friends, and the lever in front of him has a light shown upon it. A picture of Ashton smiling on the left, a picture of Louis joking around on the right. The pictures make the scenario seem lighthearted, despite how deadly it really is.

“ _Luke!”_ Louis’s voice cries, the boy sobbing. “Please don’t let me die! I’m sorry about our argument earlier, I am! Please, please don’t let us die here!”

Luke’s head is filled with his friend’s sobs as he thinks over the situation, wondering just who was making him do this. It wasn’t fair, to have to choose between two people he truly cared about. There wasn’t a single person out there he could think of that would force him to make such a decision, nobody that could have some sort of vendetta against him. So what was happening?

“So, who is it going to be Lucas?” the voice taunts him. “Are you going to save your brother’s best friend, or are you going to save your own best friend? Decisions, decisions.”

Luke was frozen. Louis had been Jack’s best friend, the person he confided to about everything, the one who had always been there for both Jack and Luke throughout the years. Hell, Louis even had a matching tattoo with Jack, one of a black butterfly that seemed to cement their friendship.

Then there was Ashton: the boy Luke had fallen in love with in the course of a year, the boy who had become his best friend and confidant. It was almost like the psycho making him do this knew that though, knew that this decision wasn’t going to be easy for Luke. It was a sick game he was playing, and Luke was sure that there was not going to be a winner in the end.

He swallows, trying to coat his dry throat as he reaches forward the grab the handle. He glances at his sobbing friends, Ashton with his wet curls and bare torso covered in blood, and Louis with his torn clothing and hopeful face.

It nearly breaks Luke’s heart when he moves the handle towards Louis’ name, making his decision.

“I see,” the voice chimes. “You have chosen to save, Ashton. Let’s hope you made the right choice Lucas.”

“ _No!”_ Louis screams as the saw approaches him, making him thrash around. “Luke, why? _Why me?”_

There is no more screaming after that, no more cries of protest. The saw begins to tear Louis apart, and Luke turns around so he cannot see it happening. He can hear it, though, hear the saw tearing through flesh and bone as it tears his friend apart. The screams become silent and all that can be heard is the saw slowing down and Ashton’s sobs.

The minute Luke hears the door unlatch he bursts through it, running towards Ashton and untying the boy from his bounds. He gathers the sobbing boy into his arms and strokes his wet hair, placing a kiss at the crown of his head and whispering comforting words.

“Don’t look Ashton,” he tells him, wrapping an arm around his best friend and leading him out of the shed. He glances at Louis’s body one last time before shuddering and leading Ashton out into the cold winter. “Here, you can wear my jacket until we get to the lodge, okay?” He tries remaining calm, for Ashton’s sake, but even he can feel himself falling apart.

Ashton shivers, taking the jacket from Luke and continuing to sob. “I just went upstairs to take a bath, and the minute I’m almost done getting dressed someone just knocks me out cold and drug me out here!” He sniffles, wiping furiously at his eyes. “Fuck, Louis is dead isn’t he?”

Luke bites his lip, nodding as Ashton begins to cry harder. It breaks Luke’s heart to hear him sob, but there was nothing he could do to make it stop. What they both witnessed was a traumatic experience, and right now they needed to get as far away from the shed as possible. Wrapping an arm around the boy, he helps lead him back towards the lodge, soothing him with kind words softly spoken into his ear.

He nearly jumps out of his skin when he hears a twig snap, moving to protect Ashton when suddenly Harry, Mali, and Geordie come into view, the three of them stopping when they notice Ashton and Luke. “Ash? Luke?” Harry calls to them, walking closer before stopping short, eyes wide. “Holy fuck, Ashton whose blood is that?”

Ashton loses it then, sobs growing louder as he chokes out, “Louis! He’s _dead!”_

Geordie holds a hand up, heart thudding in her chest. “Wait, what? What do you mean Louis is dead what happened?” She’s looking behind them, hoping she would find an answer but comes up with nothing.

“Some, some fucking _psycho,”_ Luke chokes, the tears he’d been trying so hard to hold back finally arriving. “Knocked all of us out, dragged Louis and Ashton out here and, _fuck,_ there was a fucking _saw...”_ He tries to breath, but it’s difficult. His chest feels like it’s caving in on him as visions of Louis’ grizzly demise flash through his mind over and over again. “He was fucking cut in half! _Right in front of us.”_

Mali gasps. “Luke are you serious?” She runs a hand through her hair, looking between her friends. “We need to get the hell out of here then, if someone is _after us.”_

Both Ashton and Luke are still sobbing as Harry touches Mali’s wrist, making her turn to face him. “If what they are saying is true, we need to go get some help.” He looks at his inconsolable friends, both of them sobbing into their hands as Geordie attempts to comfort them. He can hear Luke mumbling something along the lines of ‘ _it’s my fault’,_ but chooses to believe it as Luke being traumatized. There was no possible way it was Luke’s fault.

“Shouldn’t we find everyone else?” Geordie suggests, arm wrapped around Luke to comfort him. “I mean, safety in numbers right? I don’t want the rest of our friends to be killed because we left them to defend themselves.”

Mali shrugs. “I guess you have a good point, but I think Liam and Niall will be safe as long as they stay at the cabin,” she looks back at Harry, sighing. “What about the others? Are they all back at the lodge?”

Ashton manages to gather himself, wiping at his tears before speaking. “Ashley and Lynn are still there, Michael and Calum might be too.” He settles into Geordie’s embrace afterwards, burying his head into her shoulder.

Geordie places a light kiss to Ashton’s head to comfort him, rubbing his arm up and down before looking back up at Harry and Mali. “I’m going to take these two back to the lodge, we’ll warn the others. You two should go find some help.” She helps Luke and Ashton to their feet, holding them close as they head back down the trail towards the lodge, leaving Mali and Harry standing there.

“Let’s head back down the trail to the cable car station,” Harry suggests, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Maybe there’s a radio there, we can call for help.”

Mali nods, rubbing her hands together from the cold. “There’s a good chance we can ride the cable car back down the mountain too, maybe get some cell service and call someone.” They begin to head down the trail towards the station, with dread heavy in their hearts. It seemed unreal, that one of their friends was dead and they couldn’t do anything. It makes Mali wonder if she should have just gone with Geordie to check on Calum, rather than leaving her brother in possible danger.

Harry seems to notice how unsettled she is, taking her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m sure that Calum is going to be alright.”

Mali offers a small smile, holding Harry’s hand tighter as they head further down the mountain. There’s a silence between them as they walk, the two of them thinking over what has just occurred. Mali wasn’t sure how to approach the subject with Harry, having never been close to Louis to begin with. She knew how close Harry was with the boy, though, knows he must be devastated.

“We are going to get help,” she assures him, the bit of tension inside of her releasing when the cable car station comes into view. “I can promise you that whoever killed Louis is going to be caught, and we are all going to get off of this mountain unscathed.”

Harry wishes he could believe her.


	6. Dread

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a short chapter, but also an early update :)

The path up towards the cable car station is freezing. The harsh winter air has already nipped and bitten at Mali’s face, forcing her to tug her winter coat tighter in an attempt for her body to warm up more. She’s beginning to regret not changing into warmer clothes back at the lodge when she had a chance, already day dreaming about the cozy warmth of her turtle neck that was still in her suitcase back in her room. What she would do just to get rid of the chills she was currently experiencing.

“We’re almost there,” Harry tells her, as if he could seemingly tell that she was freezing her ass off. Then again, Mali wouldn’t be surprised if he was as well. The boy wasn’t exactly dressed perfectly for the cold winter weather either, with his thick sweater and skinny jeans that clung to his legs tightly. He wore a beanie over his long hair, though, at least keeping his ears warm as they trudged towards the cable car station. Mali scolds herself for forgetting her ear muffs now. “I think there was a heater in the station.”

 _With our luck there won’t be._ Mali thinks harshly. Her thoughts begin to drift back to Luke and Ashton, the image of the two boys so shaken up entering her mind once more. Luke had always been a little sensitive to things, able to be frightened easily, and it broke Mali’s heart to see him shaking as badly as he was, struggling to hold a sobbing Ashton up.

 _Ashton._ The poor boy was covered in what was Louis’ blood, and the reminder brings a wave of nausea over her. It was only their first night up on the mountain and already she’s lost one of her friends. It just didn’t seem real to her. It seemed to be a storyline out of one of her brother’s ridiculous horror movies more than anything. This kind of stuff wasn’t supposed to happen in real life. Right?

“Let’s hope we can get help,” Mali whispers, teeth chattering from the cold. “I think I’d rather find someone who can get all of us off the mountain than freeze my ass off on this mountain.”

Harry nods in agreement when they reach the cable car station, both stopping in their tracks at the sight of shattered glass near the door. The door appears to be busted, the only entrance Mali can see at the moment being the cracked window. “Wonderful,” she comments aloud, throwing her hands in the air. “I doubt one of us could even fit in that window.”

“We might not have to,” Harry comments, looking towards the side of the station where an axe rested in a glass case, an IN CASE OF EMERGENCY sticker shining red. “Pretty sure we can use this to get the door down. This does qualify as an emergency; wouldn’t you think?”

Mali chuckles lightly, rubbing her arms. “C’mon, bust the thing open so we can get inside. Pretty sure my arms are about to fall off from the cold.” She steps back as Harry opens the emergency case, picking the axe up before heading towards the door, taking a deep breath.

“Please work,” he whispers under his breath, swinging the axe forward and smashing it into the door. It doesn’t do much on the first attempt, making a small imprint where the axe hit, but Harry doesn’t stop there; another swing gets it going, and by the fourth attempt the door falls apart, smashing into the station and allowing them the access they wanted.

Mali steps forward, stepping over the fallen door and gasping at the sight before them. The entire station has turned to shambles practically, with shelves fallen and smashed to pieces, as well as various photographs dangling from their hooks, most of them shattered in their frames. The smell of paint invades their noses, making them tickle and Mali gag from the strong scent. “We were just here a few hours ago,” she whispers, looking around and keeping close to Harry. “Did this just happen, like, a few minutes ago? There is no way…” She looks around the room, peeking into the control room and shivering. “Whomever it was that got to Luke and Ashton, who,” she swallows. “ _Killed_ Louis, they must have known this was our only way back.”

“Well when you put it that way,” Harry replies sarcastically, keeping a tight grip on the axe as they step forward into the control room. His stomach has felt sick the moment they stepped into the place, and the feeling has only grown as more of the disaster in the station becomes clear. Someone definitely did a number to this place, and Harry was more than worried that they would have to encounter whomever did this soon. “Maybe there is a map somewhere in here? There’s a good change we could see if there is a radio tower or something up here that could help us.”

Mali nods, looking through various cabinets in search of a map. Her eyes catch something in the corner, however, bright red letters that stand out so much she’s surprised she didn’t see them before. With a small gasp, she taps Harry’s arm, making the boy turn and face the words himself.

_Die_

_Die_

**_Die_ **

“As if this whole mess wasn’t enough of a fucking warning,” Mali whispers, hand gripping Harry’s arm tightly and holding herself behind him. “How the hell did someone get in here and write all of this? Luke is the only one with a key to the station, there is no way in hell someone could have broken in here without a key.”

Harry swallows thickly, turning away from the dripping red letters and observing the walls. He doubts Luke would have done such a thing to them, even if it was just for a prank. Luke wasn’t the type to even pull pranks, even last year when it was towards his older brothers. It just wasn’t in Luke’s blood to be mean spirited.

Then again, with how the night had been going, the unbelievable was becoming more believable.

“I don’t want to think about who could have done this right now,” Harry says, sorting through some of the scattered papers thrown haphazardly across the desk. “What we need to do right now is figure out how the hell we can get out of here.”

Mali nods, looking around the room and stepping towards a fallen framed photo. She lifts it up delicately, resting it back against the wall before she grins, a smile finally gracing her face. “Harry! I found a map!”

Harry turns, looking towards her and observing the map himself. The lodge is there, alongside the cable car stations as well as what appears to be a fire tower. His grin becomes identical to hers, a sigh of relief escaping him as he mentally stores just where the fire towards is located. “We can get help.” He notes, eyes glistening with hope. “There is bound to be a radio in there, we can call someone and they can rescue us!”

Mali silently cheers for their victory, grabbing Harry’s arm and leading them outside of the cable car station. There is a path that leads up the mountain, little ways further from the cable car station that has both of them filling up with hope. “That is where we need to go,” Mali instructs, the pair walking up towards the path. “Do you think someone can come for us? Save us?”

A gust of cold wind nips at them, Harry shivering as he wraps his arms around himself the further up the path they go. He too, wonders if it could be possible for a rescue. He could feel the wind picking up already, the snow becoming more ferocious the higher they get. If they were to be rescued, a helicopter would have the battle through a possible storm. He has to stay optimistic, though. He _has_ to. For his friends.

“We are all getting off of this mountain alive,” Harry promises, but even he’s not too sure if he can keep it. “We will be rescued, taken home, and this is going to be in our past.”

Mali nods to herself, almost as if she too was trying to believe Harry’s words. It was better to have hope than nothing at all, in the end.

**

The fireplace has finally begun to heat up the living room, basking Ashley and Lynn in a warm glow as they curl up together on the loveseat beside the fire. They’ve been alone for an hour now, resting peacefully together as nothing but the fire crackling could be heard. It’s a nice change of pace, Ashley thinks, compared to what awaits her back home. Her family was awful loud, rambunctious, and to finally have some alone time with Lynn was a nice, welcomed change into her life.

“I like your friends,” Lynn mumbles into her neck, nuzzling her nose against Ashley’s throat. “Especially since they all kindly left us alone so we could have some time with just the two of us.” She presses a fleeting kiss to Ashley’s jawline, giggling as she curls further into the girl’s embrace.

Ashley allows her fingers to trail down Lynn’s arm, nails tapping gently against the girl’s sleeve as she grins. She had been incredibly nervous about bringing Lynn to meet all of her friends, especially since this was technically a time of mourning together. Lynn hadn’t been there, didn’t even know Jack and Ben, and for a while Ashley thought bringing her girlfriend along would be an intrusion.

It was a sigh of relief when her friend’s approved of her, Ashton even having a friendly chat with her before he had gone off for the night to take a bath. It meant the world to Ashley that her friends would approve, especially her best friend. To earn their approval made her heart soar, and she could just _feel_ that Lynn was going to be around for some time.

“Are we sharing a room this weekend?” Lynn asks, lifting herself up off of Ashley and stretching out her limbs. A yawn escapes her lips as she turns back towards her girlfriend, whose fingers have found themselves looped into Lynn’s belt loops of her jeans. She grins, swatting her girlfriend’s hands with a chuckle. “Not for that reason! I just wanted to get some sleep and to have my girlfriend there to help with that.”

Ashley lifts herself up off of the couch, fingers still attached to Lynn’s belt loops as she pulls her girlfriend closer. “We are sharing a _bed,”_ Ashley promises with a peck to Lynn’s lips. “I promise you won’t have to room with any of my weirdo friends, okay?”

“They aren’t _that_ bad,” Lynn defends, cupping Ashley’s face with a soft chuckle before she presses her lips against Ashley’s. “Now c’mon, I’m _really_ tired from the drive here and want to get some rest before the weekend really begins.” She detaches herself from Ashley, taking the girl’s hand as they rush up the stairs towards their shared bedroom. Lynn’s heart thuds excitingly in her chest, watching her girlfriend smile happily and tug on her arm.

Something off to the side catches Lynn’s attention, though, causing her to turn her head and witness a silhouette walking slowly within the kitchen. She stops on the stairs, Ashley’s hand leaving hers as she continues to stare, trying her best to make out the figure.

Only to gasp when she notices the figure brandishing a knife.

“Ashley!” she hisses, motioning for her girlfriend to look. “Someone is in the kitchen!”

“It’s probably just one of the guys,” Ashley dismisses, looking towards the kitchen. The figure doesn’t appear to be there anymore, an empty space remaining to make Lynn look incredibly strange. “I don’t see anything. Are you sure someone is in there?” She slips her hand back into Lynn’s, pulling the girl back up the stairs, but Lynn tugs her hand out, trailing down the stairs and grabbing one of the candlesticks from the side table. “Lynn?”

“I’m going to check it out,” Lynn whispers back to her, stepping forward cautiously. “It didn’t look like any of your friends, I swear.” She grips the candlestick tightly, approaching the kitchen with light footsteps before observing her surroundings.

The kitchen appears empty, just as Ashley said. A few candles flicker around the windows, snow spiraling in flurries outside and making Lynn shiver as she continues to let her eyes observe the room. There was only one entrance and exit to the kitchen, and that was the way she came. She would have _seen_ someone leave, wouldn’t she?

A cold breeze tickles her arm, making her turn rather quickly and colliding into a hard body. She screams, swinging the candlestick and smacking whomever it was hard in the arm, but her efforts prove fruitless. Before she can release another scream, something pricks her in the neck, her vision growing dark before she collapses to the ground, out cold.

“Lynn?” Ashley calls from the stairs, her girlfriend’s scream alerting her towards the kitchen. She can see the candlestick lying on the ground, a pale hand lightly touching it before suddenly the hand vanishes, almost as if they were being dragged away. “ _Lynn!”_

Her feet pound heavily against the hardwood floor, fists ready for a fight when she enters the room to find her girlfriend being dragged by her feet, a dark figure gripping her ankles tightly and looking at Ashley through a grotesque mask. A pair of bloody overalls hang off of their lanky figure, gardening gloves covering their hands. She feels dead on her feet, unable to move as the figure stares back at her, dropping Lynn’s ankles and approaching her.

“Ashley,” they say, their true voice masked by a computerized one. “You shouldn’t leave your girlfriend to fend for herself.”

It’s then that the figure begins to charge towards her, Ashley screaming as she takes off. She knows there won’t be many places to hide upstairs, her only chance of escape there would be through a window. With how the storm appears outside, however, she knows her chances of actually getting through would be death defying itself.

She turns sharply towards the basement, picking up a vase on her way through and tossing it towards the psycho chasing her. It shatters spectacularly against their chest, stopping them on their march and allowing Ashley to quickly turn a corner, evading their eye sight in favor of finding a safe spot to hide.

Her mind wanders back to Lynn, her girlfriend a helpless heap back on the kitchen floor. Ashley wants to go back for her, pick her up and find help, but knows if she goes back the way she came that _both_ of them would be in trouble. The only thing Ashley needed to do now was find where her friends went, and hope that they could find some help.

“Ashley…” she can hear the voice taunt, making her take off running another direction. She finally manages to come across the door to the Hemmings’ wine storage, hope leaping into her heart as she pushes against the door, only to become discouraged at the lack of a handle.

A crunch behind her alerts her to her surroundings, the psycho standing behind her with a menacing stance. As syringe rests in their right hand, possibly reserved for her and the thought makes her entire body stiffen. “Stay away!” she screams, pushing against the door once more in hopes of it opening. It budges slightly, but not enough. “ _Fuck!”_

The psycho grabs her arm roughly, Ashley screaming out as she swings her elbow at them. It connects perfectly with their mask, the psycho howling as Ashley forces herself at the door once more, it finally swinging open and allowing Ashley through. She slams the door back at the psycho, placing the lock in place before running once more.

She had no idea that the Hemmings’ basement was this _large,_ as she feels as if she has been running forever now. The more she moves the more basement comes to be, various rooms making an appearance that Ashley is damn sure she has never even _seen_ before. Her surrounding begin to look more like a _hotel_ than a lodge.

Peeking behind her shoulder, she gently opens the door ahead of her, gasping at the sight in front of her.

Wallpaper is peeling from the walls, old pictures dangling from them with some shattered onto the ground. Glass from a fallen chandelier sparkles within the hallway, Ashley stepping over it carefully as she takes in her surroundings. This wasn’t the Hemmings’ lodge anymore, it _couldn’t_ be.  This was an entirely brand new place she has stumbled across; she was damn sure.

Her eyes spot a photograph on the ground, what appears to be the Hemmings’ brothers front and center with bright smiles. Written in pen on the back is the caption, ‘Luke, Jack, and Ben before Jack and Ben’s birthday!’ What horrifies Ashley is that bright red x’s cover both Jack and Ben’s faces, someone’s hand writing covering Luke’s face with the caption, ‘He’s next!’

The photograph flutters to the floor, Ashley stepping away from it with wide eyes and panic in her heart. She wants to scream, cry out, but she knows that would reveal her location to the freak following her. Covering her mouth, she walks towards what appears to be a broken dumbwaiter, placing herself inside and cowering underneath.

Footsteps begin to approach, but she keeps a hand over her mouth to cover up her breathing. Tears leak from her eyes as she listens to the psycho look around for her, her body shaking as the thought of being caught swirls in her head. She couldn’t let this happen, she needed to get back to Lynn, find her friends, get them all _out._

Something sharp pierces her neck, and Ashley’s world suddenly goes dark.


	7. Psychosis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was actually one of my favorites to write for this story! We are now at the halfway point, and to think that whoever is doing all of this will be revealed next chapter!! Gah, I'm incredibly excited. (Unless you know about Until Dawn, then you know what comes next ;) )
> 
> Enjoy this chapter lovelies :) Don't forget to give kudos, comment, ramble to me on Tumblr. Ya Know.

By the time they reach the fire tower, Mali is damn sure she cannot feel her damn legs. The freezing cold of the mountain had begun to take its toll as her walking became more sluggish the further she went, Harry beside her looking just as miserable. The two of them had already discussed amongst each other their regrets of not wearing better coats, though it wasn’t that they had exactly planned trekking up Blackwood mountain. The higher elevation was not anticipated, but Mali believes it was the feat in their hearts that kept them going higher up until they reached the tower.

“That doesn’t look sturdy,” Harry comments, watching as the harsh winter wind pushed at the fire tower, making it creak loudly. He shares a worried look with Mali, wrapping his arms tighter around himself. “I swear if there isn’t a radio up there, I’m going to freak out.”

“I’m with you there,” Mali agrees, rubbing her gloved hands together and approaching the tower. One of the spotlights nearby flashes on, basking them in a warm glow, but blinding them where they stand. It takes Mali a minute to regain her sight from the light, walking blindly towards the steps leading to the ladder entrance to the tower. She sighs with relief the minute her gloved hands come in contact with a ladder step, dots still dancing across her vision as she begins to step up. “Be careful up here Haz, the wind is a bit more violent the higher it gets.”

“Noted!” Harry shouts up to her, but she barely hears him with the wind roaring in her ears. It’s a relief when she reaches the top, shoving open the latch that leads her into the tower and into what is at least a bit more warmth from the weather outside. Harry follows shortly after, the boy releasing a moan when the warm air hits his cheeks. “That is a hell lot better.”

Mali chuckles at him, looking around the room before her eyes finally trace their life saver. “Thank _god,”_ Mali breathes, rushing for the radio and pressing her finger against the intercom. No light comes on as she fiddles with the radio, a frustrated groan erupting from her lips as she shoves the radio harshly before backing up. “No freaking power. Just great.”

“There might be a fuse box outside,” Harry mentions, his eyes filling with frustration at the thought of going back out into the blizzard. “I can go see if I can find one, you stay put here, okay?” He opens the door to the outside before Mali can utter a word, turning the corner and vanishing from sight. Mali rubs her hands against her arms once more as she traces the room with curious eyes, falling on two missing person posters pinned to the corkboard above the radio.

**MISSING**

**JACK HEMMINGS**

**BEN HEMMINGS**

“I’m so sorry,” Mali whispers to the posters, the gnawing feeling of regret eating at her stomach. “I miss you two so much.”

She’s startled away from the posters and the sudden flicker of light on the radio, the printer across the room whirring to life. Harry walks back into the tower with a grin on his face, shutting the door behind him as he glances at the radio. “Thank god I found the fuse box,” he says, hugging Mali shortly before turning towards the radio. “Let’s see if we can contact anyone, shall we?”

Mali nods, hand reaching for the knob on the radio and closing her eyes. She can’t help but hold her breath as she searches for an open station, hoping someone would call out to her. She wasn’t sure what stations she could broadcast through, couldn’t even remember the park ranger station she remembers seeing a posting about when they had first arrived. She could only hope by some miracle she would land on the damn thing, out of sheer luck.

“ _Hello? This is Blackwood county ranger service, over.”_

“Hello?” Mali speaks into the intercom, voice frantic and heart thumping wildly with relief. “Hello? Is someone there?”

_“If you are attempting to contact us, please repeat yourself, for I cannot understand you, over.”_

“Deep breaths,” Harry instructs her, a calming hand on the small of her back. “I’m freaking out just as much as you are, but we need to get our heads back on straight. This could be our one chance to help our friends, okay?”

Mali nods, breathing in deeply before exhaling, pressing her finger back against the intercom button. “My name is Mali Koa Hood. My friends and I are,” she sucks in a breath. “We are trapped on Blackwood mountain with some _psycho._ Please, we need help!”

A pregnant pause leaves Mali’s ears ringing, blood rushing through them as she awaits an answer. She reaches blindly behind her, Harry’s hand colliding with hers and intertwining their fingers as they look at each other with worry, only praying that someone, anyone, could have heard her enough to send help.

Mali almost _sobs_ when a response comes through. _“We can read you, ma’am. Please do not leave your position, we will be sending helicopters to rescue you as soon as the storm has passed.”_

“How long could that be?” Harry asks, panic settling back into his chest as the sudden click of the spotlight outside steals their attention. “Fuck, something just set off the motion sensor!”

“ _We will have helicopters out at the earliest we can. Possibly not until dawn.”_

The ranger’s final words are background noise to the two teens as suddenly a loud banging rouses their attention towards the latch entrance. Mali screams, leaping across the room away from the latch as her heartbeat quickens, palms sweating as she pictures just who could be awaiting them on the other side. “ _Fuck! Stay away!”_

“Really wish we still had that axe right about now!” Harry comments, wrapping a protective arm around Mali as they step away from the latch, only for the banging to cease as footsteps echo down the ladder. Mali releases a deep breath, peeking out the window to search for whomever it was, maybe to catch some sort of _glimpse._

There is no time to react when the tower suddenly begins to tip, falling sideways.

“ _Harry!”_ Mali screams, reaching for the boy as she begins to lose her footing. Their fingertips have barely grazed as she is flying backwards, slamming roughly against the window of the tower and falling through the smashed glass, only to grab the metal railing to end her fall. All the air escapes her as she looks up, noticing Harry dangling as the tower continues to sink into the ground, various items falling through the smashed open window.

“I can’t hold on!” Harry yells to her, but Mali cannot speak. She wills herself not to look down, not to see just how far of a drop awaits her as the two of them cling to dear life on the tumbling tower. Harry’s words only leave her with more panic as her own grip is beginning to fail, the tower falling apart right before her eyes as they sink further into what appears to be a cliffs edge.

Mali only manages to retain her grip just before the entire tower falls completely down.

**

The lodge is eerily quiet by the time they get back, the only sound to be heard is the crackling of the fire. A blanket appears to have been abandoned in a crumpled heap by the couch, two pairs of shoes resting against it from what had appeared to be a cuddle session between two of their friends. Nothing else seems to have been touched, at least from what Luke could see, and that seems to strike more fear in his heart than anything else.

Ashton continues to shake beside him, arms wrapped tightly around himself as he sticks close to Luke’s side. Louis’ blood has begun to dry against Ashton’s bare skin, flaking slightly and breaking Luke’s heart all over again. He just wants to take Luke upstairs to wash him off, get him a pair of clean clothes and have the boy relax, but he knows they need to find their friends first.

“I swear Ashley and Lynn were right here when we left,” Geordie insists, looking down at the abandoned shoes near the couch. “Mali and I came downstairs, they were right here with Harry talking. We asked Harry if he wanted to go for a walk outside with us, and they said they would rather warm up here instead of going back outside.” She looks upstairs, a curious glance. “Do you think they’ve already gone to bed?”

Ashton shrugs, fixing the sleeves on Luke’s jacket nervously. “Ashley is practically a night owl; I don’t think she would run off to bed that quickly.” He looks over towards Luke, arms still wrapped tightly around himself. “Let’s check upstairs? I need to find a change of clothes anyhow, wash this blood off of me.”

Luke nods, wrapping a comforting arm around Ashton before heading towards the stairs. “Geordie?” he says, turning back towards the girl. “See if you can find Ashley and Lynn. Ash and I will check upstairs for them, get him changed, you look around the main floor. All of us can meet back here and check out the basement if we can’t find them, okay?”

“Wait, you want me to search _alone?”_ Geordie scowls, arms crossed. “I may have earned myself a black belt in karate but that doesn’t mean I can fend for myself against a fucking _maniac.”_

“It covers more ground,” Luke insists, though a part of him knows she has a point. He isn’t entirely fond of her looking by herself either, but what choice do they have? “The faster we get everyone together to get the hell out of here, the better. I promise if you end up getting killed you are allowed to haunt me for the rest of forever in the afterlife, okay?”

Geordie seems amused by Luke’s words, a playful grin on her lips as she shakes her head, reaching for one of the lit candlesticks to guide her way through the dark lodge. “Fine. I’ll meet you guys back here if I find them. If not, I’m going to meet you guys in the basement. Sound good?”

“Perfect,” Luke agrees, Ashton nodding along as Geordie takes off towards the kitchen. He keeps a tight grip on Ashton’s shoulders as they trek the rest of the way up the stairs, heading towards the bathroom where Ashton’s bath still sits, though it’s only half filled and the water is cold.

Ashton snorts. “I can’t believe the maniac at least had the decency to not flood the place,” he laughs, sitting down on the edge of the tub as Luke wets a cloth, wiping at the dried blood on Ashton’s skin. The boy shrugs off Luke’s jacket, his torso exposed to Luke to wipe off the excess blood more. “I’m really sorry, for what happened to Louis.”

Luke raises an eyebrow, wiping at Ashton’s arm with the cloth. “You don’t need to apologize for what happened back there, Ash. None of us had any control over the situation.”

Ashton shakes his head, looking at Luke with sorrow. “Should I be saying thank you then? For choosing me, saving me? Because that doesn’t feel right.” He sighs, tearing his gaze away from Luke to stare at his shaking hands. “You shouldn’t have been put in that situation. Louis was your brother’s best friend, that wasn’t _fair.”_

Nothing about the situation they were in was fair, was what Luke wanted to say. They were being terrorized, thrown into a nightmare blind with no way of defending themselves. It felt as if his brother’s disappearances were suddenly beginning to make a whole lot more sense now. If this maniac wanted all of them dead, just like they did with Ben and Jack, they were certainly going to have to go through Luke to get to them. There was no way in hell Luke was going to get his friends hurt, and as impossible as it seemed, he was going to try and save them all.

“No one else is going to die tonight,” Luke tells Ashton, finishing with cleaning the boy up before leading Ashton to the bedroom he chose for the night, digging through his bag and handing him a change of clothes. “Let’s go find the others, figure out a game plan.”

Ashton nods, pulling a shirt on over his head and following Luke towards the other bedrooms, where their friends have all thrown their luggage. All of the beds remain made in every room, mostly a little tousled from the luggage thrown about. Neither of them contain their friends, and there doesn’t seem to be a single sign that any of them had even been up here.

“Maybe Geordie found them?” Ashton whispers, following Luke out into the hallway and grabbing flashlights from the hall closet, flicking them on to navigate through the darkness. “They could be in the movie room maybe, or maybe they were in the kitchen having a bite to eat. You never did get around to making dinner, you know.”

Luke chuckles, heading towards the stairs with Ashton closely behind. “I’m guessing you are pretty hungry?”

“ _Starving._ I was hoping for a hot bath and a nice, warm meal but instead I got thrown into a fucking _nightmare.”_

Before Luke can give a response to his fretting crush, the sound of a crashing candlestick catches their attention, making both boys jump in response. “Geordie!” Luke shouts, taking off down the stairs and heading towards the source of the noise. Ashton follows close behind, albeit a little hesitant. After what had just happened, Luke doesn’t blame him.

While the candlestick remains on the ground, the candle extinguished, Geordie doesn’t seem to be anywhere within sight. “It doesn’t look like there was a struggle?” Ashton notes, looking around the empty office that he knows belonged to Luke’s father. A separate door across the room remains hanging open, revealing a grand dining room, but no sign of their missing friend. “We would have heard her scream, wouldn’t we?”

“You would think,” Luke agrees, backing out of the office and shutting the door behind them. “Let’s head downstairs to the basement, just in case whomever possibly got to her is still around. I can lock the basement door behind us just in case.” Off of Ashton’s nod of agreement, Luke begins to head towards the stairs, shining his flashlight around the surrounding area. The thought of someone watching the two of them, stalking them around the lodge puts him on edge, and he can’t help but want to reach his hand behind him and make sure Ashton is there, safe.

“Are you alright?” Luke asks him as they step into the movie room, Luke shutting the grand doors behind them a putting the lock in place. “With what happened back there, in the shed? I know it couldn’t have been easy for you Ashton, and I just want to make sure…”

“I’m okay,” Ashton tells him, though his response sounds close to a lie. “Well, I will be okay. I just can’t believe Louis is _dead,_ you know? The thought of losing any of our friends scares the hell out of me, and the fact that Ashley and Lynn are missing, that we have no idea where Mike and Cal are? I’m terrified. I can’t dwell on what happened in the shed right now.”

Luke nods, opening the basement door and stepping down onto the concrete floor that awaits him. He holds a hand out for Ashton to join him, a gentle smile on his face as the boy graciously accepts his hand and follows him down the uneven steps, shutting the door behind them and clicking the lock. “If we find Mikey and Calum down here, we stick together, alright? I promise I’m not going to let whoever is doing this lay a finger on you guys.”

 “I can protect myself, Lucas,” Ashton teases, the first true smile to grace his face since the shed making an appearance. Luke can’t help but smile with him, Ashton’s dimpled grin always making things a little sunnier despite the grim situation in front of them. “Think they could be down here, Mike and Cal? I mean, I know we haven’t seen them since we got here, but what if they happened to go after Mali and Harry, or went to get help themselves? Maybe they caught on to what’s happening?”

“We can only hope for that,” Luke admits, attempting to flick on one of the light switches in the basement, only to curse when nothing happens. “There is a good chance they haven’t been caught, and maybe they did catch up to Mali and Harry when they went to the cable car station. If they haven’t, though, there is a good chance they are around here somewhere. Just keep any eye out.”

The basement is colder than Ashton had expected, his long sleeve shirt barely keeping his arms protected from the cold as they step further into the darkness of the room. He tries to keep his flashlight ahead of him, mostly focused on Luke in case something happens, but it is a sudden thump that has Ashton startled, spinning towards the sound and shining his flashlight in the direction of another room. Something on the other end of the door smacks against it, loudly, causing both boys to shine their flashlights as they step closer.

“I swear to God if it isn’t one of them,” Ashton mutters to himself, stepping forward and gripping the door knob. He turns to Luke, awaiting confirmation in case they need to fight, before turning it and opening the door. It’s a sigh of relief when Michael and Calum spill out from the other side, Michael sporting quite the black eye while Calum has what appears to be a pretty dark bruise on the top of his forehead. “Fuck, thank _god.”_

The two boys look up at their friends confused, flashing their own flashlights upwards and nearly blinding their friends. “Luke? Ash?” Michael asks, confused as he shines his flashlight around the new area he’s encountered. “Did that freak in the white mask drag you guys down here too?”

Ashton shakes his head, helping Calum up to his feet. “We came down here looking for you guys, Ashley, Lynn? You guys are the only ones that were unaccounted for.” He sighs, biting down on his lip. “Well, and now Geordie. She was with us, looking for you guys but she vanished. We can’t find her either.” He crosses his arms against his chest, looking around the basement with frustration.

“We’ve been trying to get out of this basement for an hour now I swear,” Michael tells them, looking back the way they had come with spite in his eyes. “This basement is bigger than anything I’ve seen, so many god damn rooms and no exit. We didn’t see anyone else down here, though, until you guys. Do you think Ashley or Lynn would really be down here?”

Luke shrugs, looking around the room before shining his flashlight down a long hallway, stepping forward cautiously. “There is more basement to explore. We know they were not downstairs; so there could be a chance they could be down here somewhere. Besides,” He looks towards the upstairs entrance, shivering. “Whomever is doing this could be upstairs. We’re safer down here than we are up there.”

The other three share a nod of agreement, following Luke down the hallway. Ashton swears the basement grows colder the further they go, the biting winter air attacking their exposed skin with its harsh wind. Ashton regrets not grabbing his jacket before they ventured down here, though he is quite grateful to no longer be shirtless and covered in Louis’ blood. He’s sure that he could be in a worse condition.

Calum clears his throat as they walk on, observing their surroundings of the dark basement as he shines his light on a couple of empty cardboard boxes, a blinking red light making him step carefully towards them. “Guys?” he calls to his friends, pushing the boxes aside to expose a small, handheld camera. It’s obvious that it has been recording, though Calum shivers at the thought of just _what_ it could have captured.

“Well, that’s comforting,” Michael deadpans, grabbing the camera and directing it towards him. With a scowl, he spits, “Go fuck yourself!” before ending the recording, tossing the camera back onto the table they discovered it. Calum can’t help but let out a chuckle at Michael’s antics, feeling a little more comfortable now knowing at least _that_ camera was off of him.

Who knows what other cameras could have been stored.

“What a sick freak,” Luke adds, looking around the surrounding area. “I mean, I understand it is the modern age and all, but what a twisted fuck to _record_ a bunch of teenagers being stalked and nearly _murdered.”_

“My money is on whomever this is getting off on that shit,” Ashton shivers, his own thought disgusting him to his core. “Why else would he want to record shit like that if not for the pleasure of knowing they were the ones who caused it?” He stops near the boxes, keeping his eyes away from the now off camera before he notices something glinting off to the side. Curious, he reaches forward, fingers brushing something cold and metal. He grips it, pulling it out of its hiding place to discover it to be a pair of scissors, sharp to the point.

“I would keep that if I were you,” Calum notes, patting Ashton’s shoulder. “Never know who might try and hurt us down here.”

Ashton shakes his head, deciding to hand the scissors to Calum instead. “If that is so, you should have them. No offense Calum, but I can handle myself more than you can. I think a weapon would be better for you, especially if me or Michael cannot fight them off.” He offers a friendly smile, showing he means well with his words before walking back towards Luke, who has already moved onward.

Calum observes the scissors curiously before placing them into his back pocket, Ashton’s words coursing through his head. The boy had a point, a weapon would be nice to have in case they do happen to run into whomever was creating this night of hell. There is nothing Calum would love more than to cause them pain, revenge for them ruining their weekend and hurting his friends.

“C’mon,” Michael whispers to him, nudging his hand gently to gain the boy’s attention. “Luke and Ash are already ahead of us. We can’t risk being separated from them again. Safety in numbers and whatnot.” His black eye makes Calum cringe, sympathy for the boy in his eyes as he places a gentle hand against it, apologizing once Michael hisses.

“I swear if I get a hold of this psycho,” Calum threatens, moving his hand away from Michael’s eyes and clenching his fists. “They are going to regret hurting you, okay?”

Michael grins fondly at his best friend, lightly touching their hands together once more. “I appreciate it, Cal.”

“Guys!” Ashton calls from further ahead, causing the two of them to fall out of their own little worlds and focus back into reality. “You need to come and see this, Luke and I found something weird down here!”

It’s hard to believe, really, that things could possibly get any weirder than they already were. Calum had been through enough spooks and terror for one night, and the last thing he wanted was to encounter even more horrors that this lodge seemed to contain in every damn corner of its basement. Taking Michael’s hand, the two of them walk quickly towards their friends, shining their flashlights down an even longer hallway with old, rotting wallpaper. Shattered glass sparkles everywhere, over turned furniture blocking their path as the boys stare in awe at the new environment.

“What is this place?” Michael wonders aloud, observing his surroundings with wide eyes and confusion. “Hemmings, did you know this was _here?”_

Luke shakes his head, looking at a loss for words as he takes in their new surroundings. “It’s almost like a whole new place,” Luke notes, bending down to pick something up from the shattered glass beneath his feet. A photograph, a little worn on the edges, but Luke _knows_ it isn’t more than three years old.

It’s of him and his brothers, but their faces have been scribbled up with a red marker. “Luke,” Ashton whispers, staring at the photo in horror. “Why does this photo say you are next? Do you think whomever is doing this could have?”

“Killed my brothers?” Luke finishes for him, a slight hint of malice behind his words. “Yeah, I’m beginning to think their disappearance is making a hell lot more sense the further we fall into this fucking nightmare. Fucking _shit.”_ He tosses the photo to the ground, squeezing his eyes shut in frustration. “So fucking much for forgetting what happened the year before, right?”

Ashton steps forward, a hand resting against Luke’s cheek. “Hey,” he whispers, keeping the boy’s attention locked on him. “We are going to find Ashley and Lynn, and once we do we are going to make sure this psycho pays for every single thing he has done tonight, and for what he did to your brothers.” He removes his hand, opting instead to reach down and take Luke’s free one into his. “C’mon, let’s put an end to this nightmare, okay?”

Luke nods, squeezing Ashton’s hand with a nod. He looks towards his friends, the two of them looking slightly hesitant about heading further into the basement, but otherwise okay with continuing on. Luke doesn’t blame them, wishes he could turn back around and leave to. The last thing he wants, though, is to be held responsible if Ashley and Lynn _are_ down here, and some maniac could be hurting them.

“Let’s go end this,” Luke decrees, heading towards another staircase with a new found confidence. “For Ashley and Lynn.”

The others nod in agreement, the four of them traveling down the staircase into yet another part of the Hemmings’ mysterious basement. While the abandoned part seems to no longer be a part of their journey, it seems to be the least of their worries compared to the next room they enter. Luke nearly gags at the sight of what he’s sure is blood smeared across the floor, the smell of something _awful_ entering his nose as he shines his flashlight around, only to gag when he notices a gutted pig dangling from the ceiling.

“What the _fuck,”_ Ashton moans, holding a hand over his mouth. “Who the hell does this?”

“Unless Luke’s parents were into some weird shit, I think I have a god idea as to who,” Michael comments, shuttering at the sight of the pig. He steps away, accidentally backing into a wall and hissing as the sharp sensation of a thumbtack piercing his back alerts him. He spins around, flashlight illuminating a wall of pictures and making him gasp. “Guys, it’s _us.”_

It feels like he’s staring at a yearbook, all of their photos scattered in a collage across the wall. Each one of them is smiling, either with an arm wrapped around a friend or just individually. There is a picture of Michael and Calum after one of Calum’s soccer games, Michael wearing Calum’s away game jersey in support. Both of them have big grins on their faces, and Michael chuckles when he notices Louis in the background photobombing, waving his own jersey in the air in celebration.

They are _happy._

“It’s like a hit list,” Ashton whispers, staring at his own photo. It was taken just two years ago, the boy with slightly longer hair and drum sticks in hand, twirling them happily. Niall stands behind him, arms wrapped around Ashton’s waist as they both grin at the camera. Ashton’s eyes, however, seem to be crossed out in the photo, making him shiver as he backs away from the wall. “Fuck, I’m getting even more terrified here.”

“Same here,” Calum chimes in, looking away from the photos and heading further through the room. “Let’s get out of here. I’m sure this basement ends soon.”

They travel further into the basement, the boys beginning to grow restless as their journey doesn’t seem to come to an end. Luke is fascinated by just how _enormous_ his basement is, having never seen this whole new part of it. If he was being honest with himself, he wished he didn’t _have_ to. The fact that someone has been using this as their lair or sorts, that is what gets under his skin. Someone has been operating here without his knowledge for god knows how long, and the very thought frightens him to his core.

“I see another door up ahead!” Michael says, dashing towards it and yanking it open. He grunts at the weight the door carries, and Calum has to step forward in order to actually keep it open. “Fuck, this thing is heavy! Guys, we got to get through this right now.”

Luke is about to nod, head through the door with his friends when he notices a figure pass nearby, long hair catching his attention. “Wait! Mike, I think I just say Ashley!”

Michael scoffs. “Luke, if you want to go investigate, you can, but I have got to get this door closed soon before it crushes both me _and_ Calum here!” He looks at Ashton, who seems torn about which way he should go as well. “Ashton, at least go with him if he wants to look. I don’t want any of us being alone down here.”

“Go ahead then!” Ashton instructs, taking Luke’s hand once more. “We will come and find you guys later, I promise!”

The metal door slams loudly behind them, and Ashton can’t help but tighten his grip on Luke’s hand as the boy leads him towards where Ashley could be. “Are you sure it was her and not the psycho?” Ashton asks, unsure himself if he made the right decision of going with Luke. “I mean; we don’t know what this guy looks like. What if he has long hair too?”

“I don’t know, okay?” Luke finally says, exasperated. “You just have to trust me, okay? Do you trust me?”

In a heartbeat, Ashton has his response. “Of course.”

**

“I don’t think it was a good idea to separate from them,” Calum notes, looking around on the shelves of the new room they’ve entered. Most of them are empty, only a few containing a few old magazines Calum is sure have no interest to him. “What if the psycho finds them and kills them? I mean, Ashton gave me the scissors so we could have a defense, now he has _nothing.”_

“They’ll be fine together,” Michael promises him, shining his flashlight ahead. “Ashton is a tough guy, and Luke can damn sure handle his own. Who knows, maybe they did find Ashley?”

Calum can only nod, hoping in his heart that was the case as he follows Michael further into the room, only to crash into his back when the boy suddenly comes to a stop. “Mike, what the hell?” He peeks over his best friend’s shoulder, gasping when he notices what Michael has now illuminated with his flashlight.

It’s Ashley, knocked out cold and bound to a chair.

“Fuck,” Michael comments, stepping forward and looking at the girl carefully. “She’s alive, thank god. How did she end up down here, though? Why would he keep her down here?”

“We need to get her out of here, that’s what we need to do.” Calum decides, beginning to reach for her bounds. Before he can even take a step, though, something grabs Michael roughly, jabbing something into his neck and causing the boy to slump into a pile on the floor. Calum screams, jumping backwards as he notices a white masked man staring at him, a needle in his grasp as he steps closer to Calum.

“Get the hell away from me!” Calum screams, reaching into his back pocket for the scissors. The minute the psycho is close enough to him, Calum releases a battle cry and launches forward, ramming the scissors into the psycho’s shoulder. The psycho screams in pain, leaving Calum with a satisfied smirk on his face.

“This wasn’t supposed…” he hears the psycho mutter, his voice computerized and foreign as he straightens up, staring Calum down. “Live and _learn!”_

Calum doesn’t get a chance to defend himself once more as the psycho’s fist connects with his eye, knocking him roughly onto the ground and sending his world into darkness once more.

**

“Michael? Michael _wake up!”_

It’s the sound of Calum’s tearful cries that rises Michael from his unconsciousness, his vision slightly blurry and his movements restricted from the bounds against his ankles and wrist. Only one of his hands remains free, and when he finally becomes aware he attempts to remove his bounds, only to discover they are latched down with metal.

It breaks his heart when he looks ahead to find Calum across from him in another chair, bound the same way, only with both of his wrists attached to the chair. Tears stain the boy’s cheeks as he looks at Michael with despair, wriggling in the chair in an attempt to gain freedom. “Michael, oh _god!”_

“Calum!” Michael cries, looking at his crush in sorrow as he notices the boy’s eye looking swollen and black. “Fuck, I am going to murder that bastard the minute I get my hands on him.” He tugs at his restraints, attempting to free his other hand, only to howl in pain as the metal digs into his skin.

Calum’s sobs break his heart even more, the boy mirroring Michael’s own horror. “This isn’t _fair!_ I don’t want to _die,_ Michael! Please, I don’t want to die!”

“I’m not going to let you die, Cal,” Michael promises, though he knows in the end it might remain empty. “I swear Calum I am going to get us both out of this, and we are going to find everyone else and save them as well. I _promise.”_

“It’s too late,” Calum sobs, shaking his head as he avoids eye contact with Michael. “We are going to die here, and I didn’t even get to tell you! It’s not fucking _fair!”_

Michael stops with his struggle, Calum’s words hitting him as he looks ahead at the boy. “Calum, tell me what?”

The boy sniffles, still avoiding Michael’s gaze as he speaks. “We’re best friends, Mikey. You’ve always been the one to come to me when something upset you, and you were the support for me right back. When you said you broke up with Geordie, I thought I could finally tell you _everything,_ but now everything has been _wasted!”_

Michael swears his heart crumbles at Calum’s words, the boy falling apart right in front of him. “Calum, none of our time together was a waste. Every waking minute I have ever spent with you was the greatest part of my life.” He swallows down his own tears, and with confidence says, “I love you, Calum. I’ll always love you.”

Calum chokes on his tears, looking at Michael with sadness. “I love you too Michael, more than anyone else. I’m sorry I never told you sooner, I wanted to I _swear,_ but…”

The sound of two saws whirring to life tear them away from their moment together, throwing them back into the twisted reality as Calum releases another scream, tears pouring from his eyes as he attempts to look away as the saws move slowly towards them.

“Hello my special little subjects,” the haunting voice of the psycho echoes through the room, taunting them. “You see, your friend Lucas had already made a terrible choice today, resulting in one of your friends losing their life. How would you, Michael, like to make a similar one?”

“What do you _mean?”_ Michael shouts, tugging harder at his restraints. “Let us go!”

“Oh Mikey, that’s no fun!” The psycho laughs. “The choice is simple, really. All you need to do is take the gun that lies in front of you, and shoot either Calum or yourself. Whoever is left, gets to live. Choose wisely, Michael.”

“No!” Michael shouts, reaching for the gun and aiming it above them at the saws, shooting. He can hear the psycho laughing at his pathetic attempt, and it only makes him angrier as he stares hopelessly ahead of him at Calum, his best friend, his _love._

“Please, Michael,” Calum cries. “Kill me. If only one of us can get out of this, I want it to be you. Please, I want you to _live.”_

“I can’t lose you Cal,” Michael says, shaking his head as his own tears stream down his face. He holds the gun in his hands, palms sweaty as he places it back down on the table. “I refuse to play this sick little game.” He looks up at the saws above their heads, threatening to tear them to shreds and shouts, “If you want us to die, then just fucking _do it!”_

With one last glance at Calum, Michael closes his eyes.


	8. Violence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, if you got an email alert saying I updated this and it won't let you access, it's because my dumb ass uploaded the wrong fucking chapter. I apologize to anyone who already read the chapter if they were spoiled, or even downright fucking confused. 
> 
> I'm already embarrassed enough as it is, and I feel fucking awful now for not paying attention when I posted. Hopefully not too many of you were ruined of anything :/

“Is that her?”

“Oh _god,_ is she dead? Please don’t tell me she’s dead.”

“Wait, I think she’s waking up!”

Three voices, Ashley detects. Her mind feels foggy as she rises from her unconsciousness, head thudding awfully as she attempts to move her arms, only to find them restrained behind her and her ankles bound to what appears to be a rolling chair. Awfully tight, she might add as she feels the rope dig into her the bare skin on her ankles. Peering up, she looks towards what she believes to be the direction of the voices, nearly cheering when she notices Lynn, Luke, and Ashton standing before her.

“Oh thank _god,”_ Lynn cries, bending down before Ashley and attempting to untie her bounds. “When Luke and Ashton told me they found you, I was worried you were dead!” She removes the rope around Ashley’s ankles, reaching up to cup her girlfriend’s face before placing a kiss to the girl’s lips. “I was so fucking worried; you have no idea.”

Ashley smiles, the ties around her wrists coming undone and allowing her to wrap her arms around Lynn tightly. She breathes in the scent of her girlfriend’s skin, pressing a kiss there as grateful tears begin to poke at her eyes. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She clings to her, afraid to let go and possibly lose her once more to this nightmare they have been sucked into unwillingly.

“I hate to break up the reunion,” Ashton says, touching Ashley’s shoulder to gain her attention. “But we still need to find the others. We got separated from Mike and Calum, they have to be around here somewhere.”

Ashley nods, rubbing her wrists from where her bounds dung deeply into her pale skin before she takes Lynn’s shaking hand, following her friends through one of the doors and into the basement. “How did you guys find me? Hell, it doesn’t even look like we are still in the _basement.”_

“We were looking around with Mike and Cal, got separated when we thought we saw you,” Luke explains. “Turns out we made the right choice. We ran into Lynn in another room, about in the same condition as you were. We tried reuniting with the other two, thinking they were still in here, but couldn’t find them. Lynn saw you bound to a chair, though, and now here we are.”

“Did they get to you two?” Ashley asks, voice shaking. “The psycho? Did he hurt you both?”

Horror flashes through Ashton’s hazel eyes at her words, the boy shaking before Luke reaches forward and takes his hand, calming the boy’s growing nerves at Ashley’s question. “Yeah, earlier tonight. They managed to drag both Louis and Ashton out to the shed, tied them up and…” He pauses, squeezing Ashton’s hand tightly as the boy begins to breathe heavily. “Used this fucking huge sawblade to tear Louis _in half.”_

Lynn gasps in horror, covering her mouth with her hands while Ashley nearly mirrors her. “Oh _fuck.”_ Lynn sobs quietly, shaking her head before burying it into Ashley’s neck. The girl wraps an arm around her sobbing girlfriend, her own shock evident in her eyes as she attempts to soothe the crying girl.

“I don’t know what the fuck has been happening tonight,” Luke says, directing his flashlight towards a nearby door, their ticket out. “But it’s going to end. Nobody else gets hurt.” Off of Luke’s words, the four begin to step towards the door, only for Luke to pause as the sound of sobbing reaches his ears. “Wait, someone is crying in there?”

With a raised eyebrow, Ashton reaches for the door, pushing against it and grunting once he realizes the door won’t budge. “Luke, help me out here,” he asks, readying himself to put his entire weight against it. The minute Luke reaches position, the two of them force themselves forward, nearly falling on their faces as the door falls open, leaving the four them into another large room.

“Oh my god,” Ashley gasps, pointing ahead at what appears to be two figures tied to chairs. One of them appears to be holding a handgun in their grasp, two lifeless saws hanging above their heads as a light turns on above them, revealing Michael and Calum as the figures.

Someone steps out from the shadows beside them, wearing a large pair of overalls, blood smeared against them. An open wound is visible from their shoulder, but it’s the creepy, white mask covering their face that gathers their attention.

“Get away from us!” Calum shouts at them, struggling against the metal bounds as Michael aims the weapon at the psycho, shooting at him with no effect. The psycho merely laughs at his attempt, nearly hysterical as Michael stares at the gun in shock.

“Oh Mikey,” the psycho laughs, shaking his head as he steps closer towards the two boys. “It’s full of _blanks._ You’ve heard of those before, haven’t you?” He laughs once more, reaching up to remove the terrifying mask as he continues to shake his head in disappointment. “I mean, c’mon.”

The mask falls to the floor, clattering loudly against the cold cement as the group stares at the psycho’s true identity in horror, surprise, _betrayal._

Louis seems more than amused with their expressions, his grin obviously showing delight in his reveal. “Thought you were smarter than that, friend.”

**

“ _Harry?”_

Mali swears her voice has gone raw with how much she has shouted her friend’s name, her ankle aching as she hangs dangerously from a rope. It had only been a few minutes since she had risen from her unconsciousness, only to find her ankle wrapped tightly around what she believed to be a saving grace. It must have been one of the ties that had previously held the tower up, possibly, but she’s grateful for it breaking her fall.

She attempts to lift her head up, looking ahead in hopes of a steady place she could swing herself to and get herself untied. The rope sure as hell felt unstable, possibly from the weight placed on it from holding her up for so long. While finding ground was definitely a must, her heart worried about her friend, where he could have disappeared to after their fall, if he was still _alive._

She thanks the heavens when her eyes stumble upon ground, and using the last bit of energy within her, begins to swing towards it. If she’s lucky, maybe the rope won’t snap until _after_ she’s closer to the ground, instead of snapping early and sending her to what would definitely be her death. Mali holds her breath as she forces her body to move, thanking her mom silently for those gymnastics lessons she was dragged to. It would help her stick this landing, hopefully. With another swing, she feels herself falling, the rope snapping loudly as she falls towards the ground, though she manages to level her body into a landing position, stumbling slightly upon the rough impact of her feet slamming into the ground.

Mali releases the breath she was holding, looking up towards the flaming tower and calling out once more. “Harry!” Her voice only echoes back to her, along with the sound of the burning tower crackling and disintegrating into nothing. She takes in her surroundings, panic settling into her stomach as she notices just how _dark_ it is. There was no way she was going to be able to make it out of here by herself, especially with no source of light.

A loud creaking above her makes her jump, looking up just to see the tower continuing to crumble down. Taking a quick glance behind her, she runs for the safety of what appears to be a cave, moving just in time as the tower collapses completely, the ground Mali had found herself safe and sound vanished.

“What the _fuck,”_ Mali whispers to herself, looking at her surroundings with fear in her heart. It’s pitch black down there, the only light being provided for her coming from the flames of what had been previously known as the fire tower. _Ironic,_ Mali thinks to herself, backing up further into the cave until she collides with what feels to be a barrel, though it feels heavy as the noise of gasoline sloshing within hits her ears.

An idea strikes her, and as much as she hates to tear her shirt to bits, she knows her choices are limited. Taking a chunk of her shirt, Mali rips around the hem, a large strip of cloth coming off her body. She reaches for one of the planks from the tower, wrapping the torn piece of shirt around it before dipping it within the gasoline.

“Please work,” she whispers to herself, placing the wrapped plank towards the open flame and practically _cheering_ when it lights up, providing light in the darkness. Turning towards the open cave, Mali swallows down the fear existing in her heart before stepping forward, entering the mysterious cave.

“Harry?” she calls out, shivering as she atmosphere grows colder the further she goes. It was just her luck, really, to land herself in a place colder than the mountain was. It didn’t help that the bottom of her shirt had been used as a makeshift light either, making it even colder as her midriff is now exposed to the winter air.

It feels like she’s been walking forever down there, what has appeared to be a mine shaft sending her practically in circles in an attempt to find her way back to the lodge. Being alone doesn’t help either, the fear of something coming out at her resting in the pit of her stomach. It scares her to believe Harry could be down here alone to, freezing and lost with no sense of where he could be.

“Where _are_ you?” Mali whispers to herself, only to pause when she notices a light up ahead. A grin grows on her face as she dashes forward, the light shining down into the mine coming from an opening of a cliff. Her heart soars as she runs towards the cliff, attempting to climb up the slippery slope with a firm grasp on the rocks, only to slide back down into a small heap.

To make matters worse, the plank in her hands has no diminished it’s light, leaving the moon outside to be her only source of light down in the cave. Pulling herself up off of the freezing cold ground, she begins her search for another source of light, knowing damn well her cell phone was dead in her pocket. It frightens her when she steps forward, something crunching underneath her foot and making her jump.

It’s a watch; a shattered one at that. The silver of it glints in the moonlight as she picks it up from the ground, only to gasp when he notices the engraved initials underneath the face.

“B.H.” She whispers, observing the watch horrified. “Oh my god, Ben was _down here.”_ She places the watch into her coat pocket, looking up from where she has found it. It becomes even more clear that someone had definitely been down here, and it terrifies her when she finds herself falling to the ground, her foot having caught a large stick and sending her falling into the dirt.

When she looks up, she screams.

Someone’s head stares back at her with vacant eyes, the blue in them having diminished far long ago. Their mouth is open in horror, and Mali nearly vomits as the scent of death hits her nose. Tears prick her eyes as she gasps at the head, shaking her own in disbelief.

“ _Ben!”_ she screams, her hand brushing the stick she tripped over and making her jump once more. It wasn’t a stick after all, but what appeared to be a _cross._

She had stumbled right into her old friend’s _grave._

The twins had been down here, alone, frightened, exactly how Mali was right now. The entire time everyone up above had been searching for them, they had remained down here, freezing to death in the mines Mali was sure no one else knew _existed._

With tears burning in her eyes, she gets up from the ground, scrambling to find the furthest distance from her friend’s _head_ as possible, only to notice a figured standing not too far away, staring at her through what appeared the be goggles. There is something strapped to their back, something Mali swears is a tank of some sorts. There appears to be a nozzle in their hands, connected to the tank that has Mali’s eyes widening when she catches it. A bandana covers their mouth disguising their identity as they step forward.

When they step into the light, reaching forward to grab Mali’s wrist, she screams.

**

If Michael had to name something that bothered him more than anything, it would definitely be Louis’ current fit of laughter. Michael wasn’t entirely sure what about this situation was so _fucking_ amusing to his friend, nor did he care. Right now he just wishes Ashley was working faster on releasing his bounds so he could sucker punch Louis Tomlinson in the god damn _jaw._

“Louis!” Luke scolds, helping Calum get out of his own bonds with a scowl. Anger floods his system, hand in hand with rage as he just watches his brother’s best friend laugh at the horror stricken friends, all of whom share similar expressions of fury towards the laughing boy. “What is so god damn _funny_ to you about all of this?”

Louis snorts, shaking his head as he continues to laugh at them. “Oh c’mon Lukey! How does it feel, you know? The humiliation, fear, betrayal? You must admit that giving everyone a piece of what Ben and Jack had to go through makes you feel at least the smallest bit of happy, right?”

“Why would this make me _happy?”_ Luke spits, helping Calum up out of his chair as the boy rushes to Michael, wrapping his arms around him and burying his head in his chest. It breaks Luke’s heart to watch Calum sob, Michael holding him gently and whispering in his ear in an attempt to comfort the frightened boy. “Seeing my friends go through hell? Having to help my best friend get over the fact that he saw you get _fucking torn in half!”_

Louis rolls his eyes, clapping his hands together. “Oh man, you have _no_ idea just how fucking expensive that little joke was! The least you could do is appreciate my creativity there, mate.” He turns to look at the remaining friends, scoffing at their stone cold expressions towards him. “Oh, come on guys! It’s a good thing to get your hearts racing with excitement, fear? Like watching a scary movie, but _living_ in it!”

“Stop fucking laughing you prick!” Lynn shouts at him, keeping close to Ashley as she yells. “What if one of us had gotten killed, did you even think about that? Fuck, did you even think about that?”

“Oh calm down Ms. Gunn, I knew exactly what I was doing with my little spectacle,” Louis shakes his head at the audacity of Lynn’s question, another roll of the eyes further pushing Michael in wanting to drive his fist into the boy’s face. “Can you believe I managed to get this entire thing on _camera?_ At least be impressed with that, I am about to make you all internet sensations!”

It surprises Michael when Calum shoves away from him, walking towards Louis with an accusing finger and his face twisted in anger. “What about my sister, Harry? Geordie? Are they going to be internet sensations? We don’t even know where they fucking _are,_ how could they be stars when there is a chance you could have _killed them!”_

Louis raises an eyebrow at Calum’s anger, pushing his finger away. “Whoa, what _about_ Mali and Harry? I haven’t seen them all night, I’m not sure what I could have done to them. Geordie, on the other hand, is locked upstairs in one of the rooms. Let me tell you, she is going to be _furious_ that she missed out on something this wonderful.”

Something snaps in Calum them, something unexpected as the boy surges forward, slamming his fist into Louis’ face and knocking the boy to the ground. “ _My sister could be dead!”_ he screams, and Louis swears at him from the ground, gripping his face.

“I could give less of a fuck about your sister!” Louis shouts back, scrambling up to his feet as he stares aghast at his friends. “After what she did to Jack, she _deserves_ to be treated like this! After what all of you did to him! You are the fucking reason he is dead. I lost what could have been the love of my god damn _life_ because of you, assholes!”

Luke’s eyes widen at Louis confession, mouth open in shock. “Wait, you loved him?” He asks gently, stepping towards Louis.

“More than anything,” Louis growls, staring daggers into the rest of his friend’s eyes. “And you, you _pricks_ just _had_ to pull that stupid prank on him! He is dead because of you jackasses!” He pokes Calum in the chest, fury burning in his eyes as he shouts, “Your slut of a sister did this to him!”

Before Luke can launch forward, restricting his friend, Calum has already thrown another fist at Louis, connecting with his face with a satisfying crunch as Louis crumples to the floor unconscious. “That should shut him the fuck up,” Calum says, fists still clenched and resting at his sides. “We got to put him somewhere until morning, when we can call the police.”

Michael steps forward, pulling Calum back into his embrace by the arm and whispering to him, “Breathe, okay? Luke and I can take him out to the shed out back, stay with him until dawn. I want you to stay here with the others, relax, wait for Mali and Harry to return. Okay?” He kisses the top of Calum’s head before looking down at Louis, sighing. “C’mon Hemmings, let’s get this psycho out of here.”

**

It takes Louis some time to fully rise from his unconsciousness, and when he does there is a cold chill on his skin, his hands feeling awfully sore from the rope that has found itself tied around his wrists. He looks forward, lifting his head from where it has rested against his chest and laughs when he sees Luke and Michael standing before him.

“Is this really necessary guys?” He questions, eyebrow raised. “I mean; what real threat am I to you?”

“You fucking tell us,” Michael shakes his head at him, arms crossed as he stares at his former friend. “Why the hell would you do this to us? I understand you being upset with what happened with Jack and Ben, all of us have been upset. Yet why would you torment us? What about Liam, Niall? We haven’t seen them in quite some time, what happened with them?”

Louis laughs, shaking his head at Michael’s stupidity, or at least what he views as stupidity. “They are probably fucking each other’s brains out at the guest cabin, what do you think? Those horny bastards are treating each other the way they should, don’t you think?” He turns his attention to Luke, a sinister smirk on his face as he says, “I’m sure you and Ashton are quickly on your way there, right Lukey boy?”

“You disgust me,” Luke spits at him, eyes cold and unforgiving. “Don’t you feel any sort of regret for what you have done to us? We thought you were _dead,_ there is a chance that Harry and Mali _are._ What amuses you so much about your friends going through hell?”

“I love the taste of revenge!” Louis shouts, tugging against his restraints. “I mean, let’s face the reality of it all here Lukey. If I hadn’t done this, do you think Michael and Calum would have confessed their feelings? Would Ashton have been glued to your hip? I am creating some bonds here!”

Michael shakes his head, stepping away from Louis to pull Luke to the side. “I have never seen him like this before,” he whispers, and it’s then that Luke can see just how worried Michael truly is about their former friend. “I mean, I know Louis can be a bit of a joker, but there is no way he could have done this in his right mind.”

“I didn’t know he was in love with Jack,” Luke whispers softly, shaking his head in disbelief as Louis’ words run through his head on a continuous loop. “They were always so close, but I passed it off as them being best friends, you know? Jack has such a huge crush on Mali I didn’t even think that there was anything else there.”

“I don’t think it would have changed things,” Michael tells him, looking back at their friend. “Right now let’s just hope this was the end to this night of terror. We can talk about it later, okay?”

“Do you think it’s really all over?” Luke asks softly, voice laced with worry. “What if he has something else planned to happen?”

Louis gives the two of them a look of complete disdain, making Michael turn away from his line of sight and sighing. “I sure as hell hope not.”

Something howls off in the distance, and Luke wonders if it’s a sign.

 

 


	9. Revelation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I should just say this now so you know: I am so, so sorry.

The hand wrapped around Mali’s wrist is far more delicate than she was expecting, the fingers wrapped around it smaller and thinner. When she looks at them, attempting to look past the ridiculous goggles and the bandana currently wrapped around their mouth, she swears that it’s a woman underneath all that garb.

Touting around a fucking _flame thrower._

“Stay away from me!” Mali screams, tugging at her wrist to be released when she hears an ear piercing _screech._ The sound strikes fear into her heart, though the stranger seems not to be bothered by the sudden noise as they tug something off of their person, shoving it into Mali’s chest. “Take this!” a feminine voice shouts, turning around to look the other direction as Mali stares down at what she’s been given, confused. “Get the _hell_ out of here!”

“What?” Mali questions, stepping back as flames shoot out from the stranger’s flame thrower, dousing something in angry flickers of red and orange. Her foot slips from underneath her, sending her tumbling down further into the mine. She’s surprised she hasn’t broken any bones at this point, honestly, but with her luck she eventually would by the end of this hell night.

She lands onto solid ground with a grunt, the air escaping her lungs as she lays sprawled out on her back. Her head is _throbbing,_ the bag the stranger has given her smacking her in the gut before she can even properly react. Whatever was in the bag was quite heavy, and she wondered she what exactly they could have given her that could help her down here.

Picking the bag up off of the dirt ground, Mali opens the latch, nearly sobbing with relief when she notices two flares. _Light,_ she cries to herself, striking the flare and watching as the mine illuminates around her. Adjusting the strap across her shoulder, she looks towards the opening, noticing a few more carts and rails along the way.

Where there are rails, they are _bound_ to be escape routes. At least, Mali hopes. Shining her flare, she steps cautiously around the mine, the cave growing even colder as a breeze brushes her cheeks, turning them even more red than she was sure they already were.

The screech from before echoes around the mine once more, making Mali jump and nearly drop the flare in her hands. _What is that?_ She wonders, chills spreading down her spine from both of the freezing air and the fear of the unknown sound. After what she’s been through this night, she’s bound to believe it could be just about anything at this point.

Her mind wanders back to her friends, all of them trapped up above ground at the lodge. Did Luke, Ashton, and Geordie manage to get some help? Did they happen to find the others and stay safe? There wasn’t any chance she could know right now, not until she got the hell out of this nightmare and got back to the lodge safely.

The worst part was not knowing if her brother was okay, if he was hurt or completely oblivious to what had occurred. Mali was sure Ashton or Luke would have told him what had happened back in the shed, that Louis was as good as dead and someone was after them all. It comforts Mali, at least, that Michael was up there with him.

At least, she hopes he was. If something had happened to Michael, she knows Calum would need her. All the more reason to get the hell out of here and get back to her friends.

As she follows the rails through the mines, a large gap is visible from where she is, a bit of a tight squeeze from the looks of it but almost appearing to be a way out. Taking a deep breath, Mali begins to shimmy her way in, flare held ahead of her to guide her way as she attempts to slide her body through the tight gap. She can see what appears to be a bridge, a sign indicating what she thinks might just be a surface elevator up ahead. She could only _hope_ her mind wasn’t making things up.

With one more step towards freedom, it’s suddenly shattered as something bursts through the wooden paneling in front of her, making her scream as she finally shimmies the rest of the way out of the gap, running ahead in fear. She wasn’t sure just _what_ had burst through the paneling, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out either.

As she darts across the bridge, grateful for the extensive workouts Calum always dragged her to, something slams down on the bridge behind her, nails scratching against the wood. Mali doesn’t dare look back though, holding the flare tighter in her grasp as she runs.

The surface elevator makes an appearance, Mali trying to run a little faster in an attempt to gain a lead on whatever is following her. It’s the minute she gets herself into the elevator, pulling down the handle to lead her way out of the mines, that she dares to turn around and look at just what exactly has been trailing her, what had been screeching behind her as she ran for her life.

It has the appearance that only Stephen King himself could have conjured up in his many horror stories. Bones visible as the skin practically _clings_ to what could have been a human, blood splattered across it’s long, spider-like body. As it releases another screech, Mali watches as it climbs up the mine walls, it’s long limbs keeping it steady as it speeds to the top. Mali can only hope it doesn’t beat her there, but with how fast it had been keeping up with her, it wouldn’t be a surprise if she had to be ready to fight.

The minute the elevator has stopped she takes off running, tossing her flare behind her in hopes of it slowing down the creature. The cold winter air hits her skin, and she’s pretty much _grateful_ for it now as her freedom is only a few yards away. As the creature trails her further, long nails clicking against the wooden floor, Mali pushes a few barrels down as she darts past, hoping they can slow the creature down while she formulates a plan to escape.

She tosses another flare back behind her, grinning in victory as she creature releases a howl of what she can only believe is pain. A conveyor belt comes into view, Mali not even bothering with turning the thing on before she climbs up the thing, leaping off of it once railing comes into view and taking off towards what appears to be an abandoned ski lift. With her hope, there could be something she could zip line down with, maybe find herself somewhere as far from the creature as possible.

She glances behind her once more, the creature gaining on her with another loud screech. “ _Fuck!”_ Mali curses to herself, panic coursing through her as she pushes open the door to the zip line, locking it behind her in hopes the creature will not follow.

She makes the mistake of stopping, pausing to catch her breath. Her lungs feel as if they will explode, having run so hard to get away from the creature that she can feel herself becoming exhausted. The moment she goes towards the zip line, though, the creature bursts through the wooden paneling, and Mali howls in pain as it bites deeply into her shoulder.

Screaming, Mali manages to push herself out of the creature’s grasp, leaping forward to avoid the hole in the floor as she looks up just in time to catch sight of something connected to the zip line, her ticket out of this creature’s path. This time there is no looking back as she jumps forward, grabbing the metal bar attached and sliding her way down the mountain, the creature screaming behind her.

Her shoulder aches like a bitch when she finally lands onto a large pile of snow, her hand immediately flying to the spot where the creature’s teeth dug into her skin and looking backwards. All she can see is flurries of snow, the pine trees, no sight of the creature in sight.

Taking no chances, Mali takes off running once more.

**

A scream can be heard from outside of the lodge, not even the crackling of the living room fire covering it up. Calum jumps up off of the living room couch the minute it rings through the air, panic settling into his stomach when he realizes that he _recognizes_ the scream. It’s one he has heard countless times during arguments back home, most of the time directed towards him when he steals one of her CD’s and doesn’t give it back.

“ _Mali!”_ Calum shouts, dashing towards the front door and ignoring his friend’s pleas. The sight of his sister dashing up the steps towards the front door, panicked and worse for wear, has him almost sobbing once more as he pulls the door open, allowing his sister to collapse onto the floor and scurry as far away from it as possible.

“ _Shut the door!”_ Mali demands, Calum closing it behind them before gathering his sister up off of the ground, gathering her into the largest hug he can muster. “Oh my god, _Calum._ Fuck, I didn’t think I was going to make it back in one piece.” She sobs into her brother’s shoulder, grateful just to have him in her sights once more, in her arms, _alive._

Their friends gather around into the front entrance, shock on their faces as they take the sight of Mali in. Arms wrap around her in comfort as they lead her towards the living room couch, firing of questions that Mali is far too scrambled to answer. She wants to, wants them all to know that she is okay now, but that there was something _out there._

“Where’s Harry?” Geordie asks her softly, arm around Mali comfortingly as her hand rubs soft circles into Mali’s arm. “I thought both of you went to go get help?”

“We did,” Mali confirms, attempting to gather her thoughts as she looks around at her friends’ curious eyes. “The two of us managed to find a fire tower with a radio in it, we got a hold of someone on there before the tower just,” she squeezes her eyes shut, tears leaking through as she chokes out, “ _It collapsed!_ Harry and I fell down into this fucking mine shaft, I couldn’t find him anywhere and something that was not fucking human chased me all the way back here!”

“Whoa,” Ashley says, holding a finger up as she stares at Mali. “What do you mean not human?”

“It might have just been some puppet, Mali,” Luke tries to assure her, crouching down beside her with a comforting hand on her knee. “It was all Louis; he was pulling some stupid prank on all of us. Whatever you saw must have been…”

“ _It wasn’t!”_ Mali barks at him, Luke recoiling from her at her harsh tone. “Fuck, I don’t know what the fuck I saw but I can promise you guys that whatever the _hell_ that thing was, it wasn’t a human being. There is something living in that fucking mine and I don’t want to ever see it again.”

“A mine?” Geordie asks her, eyebrow raised. “Mali, there are not any mines on this mountain. I’m pretty sure Luke’s dad would have told us about them if there were. Remember, he’s all about learning about the mountain and everything about it? Teaching us all even though none of us really cared?”

Mali shakes her head at her best friend’s words because they are _ridiculous._ She knows what she saw, knows what she went through, and she’s not going to let her friends tell her differently. “When I was down there, I found things. I tried climbing this cliff back up, but it was too slippery and I couldn’t climb it that far. When I looked at the bottom…” She sticks her hand in her pocket, pulling out Ben’s broken watch and holding it out. “I found this, I accidentally stepped on it.”

It breaks her heart to watch as Luke steps forward, taking the watch in his hands and tracing the engraved initials on the back. Tears well up in the boy’s eyes, and while Mali wants to just gather the boy in her arms to comfort him, it’s Ashton that beats her to it. It makes her smile softly, that at least everyone in this lodge has _someone._ Someone that could hold them and make sure that they are alright. They have each other.

“Luke,” The boy turns to face her, watch in his hands as he looks at her with tear filled eyes. “I think they were both down there, Jack and Ben. Looking around down there it was obvious they could have fallen down there. I found,” she pauses, wondering just how she was going to tell her heartbroken friend the news. “I found a cross with Ben’s name on it, and right next to it was his…” She doesn’t bother to continue, keeping her head down as she tries to breathe.  

Loud footsteps enter the room suddenly, a panicked looking Michael looking around before his eyes land on Mali. “Oh god, _Mali,”_ he chokes out, pulling the girl into a tight hug. “Fuck, are you okay? I heard you screaming and I had to make sure you were okay.”

Mali nods, gripping to Michael tightly as she rests against his chest. “I’m alright, at least now I am.”

A loud knocking on the back door alerts them, all of them jumping to their feet in defensive positions. They cannot see who stands on the other side, nor do they want to find out as they all look towards each other, reading expressions and sharing looks of worry. “Who the hell could that be?” Michael whispers, reaching for both Mali and Calum’s hands. The two accept them graciously, standing close to their friend.

“I’ll go,” Ashton states, releasing his arm from where it had been around Luke to step forward, motioning to Michael. “Both of us. Let’s at least check it out, make sure it isn’t Harry or maybe Liam and Niall?”

“You’re right,” Michael nods, heading towards the door with Ashton. He peeks back at his friends, an assuring nod towards them as he reaches for the fire poker to arm himself. It’s not much, but if it is an intruder, he would at least need _something._ “Ash, you want to open the door or should I?”

“Allow me,” Ashton says, getting a grip on the handle before looking back towards Michael. “Be ready for whatever is out there.” With a swift turn of the handle, Ashton backs up the minute the door is thrown open, both he and Michael ready for a fight against whoever appears.

Instead, they are surprised to find themselves head to head against what appears to be a tiny woman, bundled up in a large coat and toting around what Ashton _swears_ is a _fucking flame thrower._ Goggles rest atop of her head, a bright red bandana wrapped around her neck as she stares at them in annoyance, kicking the shut behind her. “Living room,” she instructs, nodding her heads towards the rest of their friends. Michael and Ashton share a look between each other, eyebrows raised before she aims the nozzle of the flamethrower towards them, a _don’t try me_ look making them obey.

As the two scurry towards the living room, the woman makes their friends jump in their standing positions, all eyes on her weapon. “Please don’t hurt us,” Geordie whispers meekly, standing behind Mali. “We have already been through hell tonight.”

“I know,” the woman speaks, looking towards their fireplace with a sense of relief. She stands closer to it, removing the flamethrower from her back and placing it on the floor. She stands close to the fire, eyes closed and head leaned back as she soaks in the heat. “I’m not here to hurt you, but rather warn you, _protect you._ The way I couldn’t protect your friends last year.”

Luke watches her, eyes widen as he steps towards her, though he remains cautious. “What do you mean by protect our friends? Do you know what happened to my brothers?”

The woman sighs sadly, nodding her head and offering Luke a sympathetic smile. It’s then that Luke takes in the jagged scar across her right eye, a milky white color coating over the now light brown iris. Her small, angelic face is coated with dirt, scars, and bruises, but something underneath it all shows kindness, though her eyes shine with the nightmares she must have endured. “I tried saving them, but I could not. Not when they were being hunted by the Wendigo.”

“A what?” Mali asks, looking the most intrigued of them all. The rest share looks of confusion, reasonable considering everything that has happened previously. “Is that what chased me back here?”

The woman nods, taking a seat across from the in Luke’s father’s chair. “I am only going to explain this to you all once, so please be sure to listen closely. I don’t care if you believe me or not, you will in due time.” She takes a deep breath, observing the friends before continuing. “There is a curse up here on this mountain, one that has resided around here for so long I cannot remember exactly. Should anyone resort to cannibalism in the woods, the spirit of the Wendigo shall take their humanity. I know this, for it took away my husband only a few years back.”

“Is that what killed my brothers?” Luke asks timidly, sucking in a breath once the woman nods.

“It was that creature that drove them over a cliff top,” the woman admits to him. “Despite not being able to save them, I killed the creature to at least _avenge_ them. It didn’t matter if I knew them or not; I had already lost someone to the Wendigo. It broke my heart to know someone else had to.” She gets up, grabbing for her flamethrower once more and watching the group. “You all need to get somewhere safe.”

“The basement,” Lynn suggests, staying close to Ashley as she catches sight of the flamethrower once more. “I’m pretty sure it is the safest place we could be. How long do you think we might have to stay down there?”

Mali looks at her, head down. “Until dawn. That is when the ranger service promised they would be able to be here to rescue us.”

Michael’s eyes widen suddenly, a gasp escaping his mouth. “Guys, I fucking left Louis in the shed when I heard Mali screaming.”

The woman looks at him seriously. “He could already be dead then. The Wendigo doesn’t waste time with killing its prey. If you left him there, he’s dead.”

“He can’t be dead!” Luke shouts suddenly, stepping forward and looking at the woman. “We have to at least go to the shed, see if he could still be there. I’ve already let him down once before, I can’t just leave him out there to dry again.”

“I will go find him,” the woman promises.

“I want to go with you.”

Michael turns towards the new voice who has spoken up, surprised to see Calum standing up with confidence. “I have been acting like a complete pansy this entire time, not helping my friends and crying for help. I want to go find Louis, I want to help in any way that I can.”

“Me too,” Geordie voices, standing side by side with Calum. “Safety in numbers, right? Besides, Calum and I are strong, we can take down anything that comes our way.”

The woman seems unconvinced, shaking her head at the teens. “You two do realize you might not come back alive, right? This is an incredibly serious situation you are about to be faced with. Are you sure you want to be forced with that responsibility?” Off of their two eager nods, the woman sighs. “Fine, I have two guns in my bag. Do you two at least know how to _shoot?”_

She leads them towards the back door once more, where her bag has been set. As she hands off the guns to Calum and Geordie, the two of them taking deep breaths, Calum asks, “What is your name?”

The woman looks at him, leaving her bad abandoned by the door as she steps outside. “Unimportant,” she tells him, look off the direction towards the shed. “C’mon, the faster we get there and retrieve your friend, the faster we can get back here and assure all of you are safe.”

The two friends nod, keeping their guns gripped tightly in their hands as they prepare to embark towards the shed. As Calum steps out onto the snow covered deck, Michael’s voice calls him back, the boy stepping forward. “Come back safe, okay?” Michael asks him, reaching forward to hold Calum’s face in his hands before pressing a long awaited kiss to his lips. It ends as quick as it begins, but the lasting effects bubble in Calum’s mind as he stares adoringly at his best friend, a new rush of confidence flooding through him as he steps outside with Geordie and the woman, gun steady in his hands.

“You love him,” Geordie states, eyes focused straight ahead as the woman leads the way. “Michael.”

Calum sighs, nodding his head as he keeps moving forward. “I do. Geordie, I’m sorry.”

She shakes her head, a soft laugh escaping her lips. “I don’t care anymore, trust me. I did, but I can see now that dwelling over it won’t get me anywhere. So let’s make sure we make it back, for him, okay?”

“Of course.”

As they continue to trek through the snow, guns held in shaky hands, the woman speaks up. “If we do happen to run into a Wendigo, I want you to know that just shooting it will not kill it. Slow it down, yes, but killing it will not work with just these guns. They hate fire, hence why I lug this big thing around.” She motions to her flame thrower. “They can sense movement, but if you remain perfectly still, you should be alright. I don’t recommend trying it out unless you have no other choice, though. Trust me, I would know.”

It’s a lot of information for them to take in, Calum nodding his head along with the woman’s words with Geordie as they take the path up to the shed. The minute it comes into view, however, Calum freezes in his tracks at the sight of a broken stool, some blood spilled into the white snow. “Fuck, we are too late!”

The woman observes the area, a look of sorrow on her face as she faces the two friends. “There is nothing we can do for him; we don’t know where the Wendigo could have taken him at this point. We need to get you two back to the lodge, safe.” A loud screech echoes through the trees, all of them freezing up as they turn to face the source of the noise. “Right now.”

A twig snaps nearby, alerting the three towards the trees as the woman takes her stance in front of the two teens. “Stay completely still,” she commands, holding her flame thrower in position. “Who knows where this thing could be.”

As if on cue, something flies from the trees on all fours, landing just ahead of them. Calum’s eyes widen as he stares at the creature, Geordie letting out a loud gasp at the sight of the creature as the two of them keep close to the woman, who has already spout fire towards the thing. “Both of you need to get ready to run!” she instructs, dousing the thing with fire once more.

The two teenagers aim their guns at the creature, ready. “We need to get back to the lodge!” Geordie yells at the woman, taking aim with her shotgun and shooting at the creature, cursing as the bullet misses. “We’re too far out in the open!”

Just as the woman turns, ready to fight the creature, the monster launches towards them. Calum is quick to grab Geordie’s arm, tugging her away as the creature launches at the woman, it’s sharp nails slicing her throat in a bloody mess. Geordie screams as the woman falls to her knees, collapsing into the snow as her head rolls towards Calum, the boy kicking it away from him as the urge to vomit rises in his throat.

When the creature launches at him next, he thanks every star that he manages to get his gun ready in time as the shotgun blast launches it backward. “Geordie, run!” he shouts, grabbing the girl’s wrist as the two of them take off running back towards the lodge. His heart threatens to burst through his chest as they run, fear the only thing keeping him from exhausting as he leads the way back to the lodge.

Geordie’s shotgun goes off, and Calum turns to see the Wendigo cowering on the ground from the blast. “It’s chasing us!” she screams, taking off running once more with Calum on her heels. “Keep an eye out!”

Just as she has spoken, the Wendigo leaps forward once more, teeth poised at Calum’s throat as he knocks it back onto the ground once more with the power of the shotgun blast. “Fuck you!” Geordie shouts at the creature, taking off once more.

The lodge is in sight, Calum can see it, but before relief can flood his system he hears a scream from behind him. Turning, he finds Geordie with her gun aimed at the Wendigo, but nothing seems to come from the gun. Her finger plays with the trigger, and before Calum can react the creature has launched at the girl, pinning her to the snow.

“Geordie!” Calum shouts, shooting at the creature and knocking it off of his friend. The girl gasps, struggling to get up from the ground as her hand presses against the deep scratch against her chest. “C’mon, the lodge isn’t that much further.”

Geordie whimpers, keeping her arm around Calum’s waist as they move further along. The Wendigo screeches from behind them, Calum turning to see it lurking behind them with a bloodthirsty expression. It begins to leap forward, and before Calum can aim the gun at it, Geordie launches herself at the creature.

“ _No!”_ Calum screams, watching as the creature takes a hold of the girl and slashes at her. It’s a horrifying scene, watching his friend be torn apart by this thing, and Calum is careful with his aim as he shoots at the creature once more, knocking it off of his friend as he attempts to pick her up once more.

“Calum,” Geordie moans, her wounds looking quite serious and deep. “Protect Michael, okay? Promise me you will make sure he lives through tonight.” She coughs, blood spurting from her mouth horrifically as Calum choked on the sob rising in his throat.

“I promise,” he sobs, taking one last glance at her before taking off back towards the lodge. He sees Michael standing at the door, ripping it open the minute he spots Calum and allowing the boy back into the safety of the lodge. Calum takes the initiative to lock the door behind them, tugging on Michael’s arm to lead them to the basement.

“What about Geordie?” Michael demands, frozen in his steps. “Where is she?”

Calum opens his mouth, tears in his eyes when glass shatters around them. For a minute Calum fears it’s the Wendigo, but when he looks towards what has been tossed through the window, he sobs loudly.

Geordie’s head looks up at him, her dead, cold eyes staring at him with the promise Calum had made her resting in her dying eyes. Michael screams at the sight, hand covering his quivering mouth as Calum grabs his head, leading the boy to the basement as fast as they can.

“I’m so sorry,” Calum whispers, but he’s not sure if Michael can even hear him.

**

When they arrive down in the basement, Mali has engulfed him into the tightest hug she can muster. “Don’t you ever put yourself in danger ever again, you got that?” She cries into his neck, Calum sobbing into her shoulder as the siblings hold each other tightly. “I can’t lose you, Cal, alright?” She releases the boy gently, kissing his cheek before asking, “Where is Geordie?”

Michael can feel one of his tears escape down his cheek, wiping at it furiously as he responds, “She didn’t make it.”

The rest of the friend’s gasp, Calum merely shaking his head. He could have done something; he had _tried_ to do something to save his friend. In the end, she had seemingly accepted her death, and there was nothing Calum could have possibly done to save her. All he could do now was honor the promise he had made her, and that was what he had intended to do.

“This can’t be happening,” Lynn mumbled, shaking her head as she takes a seat atop one of the tables in the room. “Why couldn’t this all end with Louis’ stupid prank? Why did this nightmare just have to keep going?”

“Where is Louis?” Ashley asks, keeping a comforting hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Is that woman still out there looking for him?”

Calum shakes his head, leaning into Michael embrace as he attempts to comfort the boy. “She didn’t make it either. That thing slashed her fucking throat open before she even had a chance to fight back. Louis was already fucking gone by the time we got there.”

Luke curses, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “Fucking wonderful. Our best chance now is to hope that Mali and Harry managed to get a hold of someone up at that fire tower. We are fucking stuck down here until then.”

Mali nods, rubbing her arm as she speaks. “What if Louis isn’t dead? What if that thing just took him down to the mines?”

“Why would it take him down there?” Ashton asks, eyebrow raised. “Is down in the mine some sort of lair to it?”

“Possibly,” Mali confesses, grabbing one of the bags the woman left behind and pulling out a map. “I managed to grab this when Cal and Geordie left. I think she left it behind for us, just in case she didn’t come back. It’s a map of the mine, but there are also some survival journals as well.” She unravels the map, laying it against one of the tables and pointing at a specific spot. “There is tunnel underneath here that manages to lead into the mines. If we stick together, maybe we can find him down there and rescue him.”

Lynn scoffs, shaking her head furiously at the idea. “I have no desire to save that prick after what he has done to us. I’m sorry, I know he is your friend, but for all I care he deserves whatever awaits him down there in the prison.”

“I beg to differ,” Luke barks back, making Lynn recoil. “I don’t want any more of us dying tonight, understand? If there is even a slight chance we can save him, we should take it.” He looks around at the group, the fear in their faces evident. They’ve all been through hell, and while the basement was definitely the safest place they could be at the moment, Luke knew that he had to save Louis. Even if there was a chance he could be dead already, Luke had to at least _try._ He knows Jack would have.

Mali taps his shoulder, pointing to a trail on the map. “This trail is going to be our best bet. Louis has to be down there somewhere, and if he is we need to find him and make sure he doesn’t become that thing’s next meal.” She turns back towards the map, observing it further when Lynn suddenly gasps, reaching forward and touching Mali’s shoulder gently.

“Mali, what is that?” she asks softly, stepping back in horror. Mali’s hand is quick to fly up towards the bite mark, blood draining from her face as she looks at her friends. Lynn had her mouth covered, shaking her head as she falls into Ashley’s embrace, the girl looking just as horrified as Lynn. Michael simply has his eyebrow raises as he steps closer, peaking at the mark.

“Don’t get too close!” Ashley instructs, Michael ignoring her in favor of pulling back Mali’s coat to observe her shoulder. The skin there is an angry red, a large chunk of skin bloodied and torn from the Wendigo’s teeth. It’s horrifying, and Mali is quick to cover it back up and step away from the group with panic written on her face.

“I’m going to turn into one of those things,” Mali says aloud, looking at her friends in fear. “Aren’t I? Isn’t that what the woman said?” She turns to Calum for reassurance, tears filling her brown eyes as she begs for her brother to disagree. “I don’t want to hurt you, any of you.”

“Well we are not sending you back out there,” Calum decides, taking his sister’s hands and gently running his thumbs over her knuckles. She sniffles, tears streaking down her face as she throws her arms around her brother, sobbing into his neck as she mumbles something incoherent. Calum, though, has stiffened, pulling away from her with anger and misery boiling in his eyes. “No. _No.”_

“Cal,” Mali cries, reaching out for him. “Please, I don’t want to hurt anyone! It’s the only way to assure our friends are safe!”

“I am not letting you die!” Calum barks back, angry tears spilling down his cheeks as she stares at his sister. The room has grown dead silent, the friends all watching as the Hood siblings sob. “You can’t ask me to shoot you, Mali. We are going to make it out of this alive, and even if you do turn into one of those things…”

“We could _die!”_ Lynn shouts, looking at Mali with disdain. “She is going to become one of those things, and if we allow her to stay in here we are all dead.”

“So you want me to put a fucking bullet in my own sister’s head?” Calum spits towards the girl, fists clenched as he steps towards her. “We don’t even know if this bite is infectious, okay? We could all just be over reacting.”

“And what if it is?” Mali demands, stepping towards her brother and making him face her. “I do not want to be held accountable for everyone in this room dying. The woman told us all that cannibalism is what creates these things. One of them bit me, and I don’t want to live to see if I do end up like one of them.” She sobs, looking up at her brother with a heartbreaking glance as she whispers, “If I have to die, I want to save my friends in the process.”

Calum shakes his head, tears still spilling endlessly from his eyes before he pulls his sister in for a tight hug. Michael watches them with a heavy heart, placing a hand on Calum’s shoulder as the boy turns and wraps his arms around his best friend, tears streaking down Michael’s neck.

“I found a revolver in the woman’s bag,” Mali mentions, pulling it out from the worn sack and handing it to Calum. “I want you to do it, Cal. If I have to die tonight, I at least want it to be on my own terms. I don’t want anyone else to be the one to do it.” She steps back, staring Calum right in the eyes as she sighs. “ _Please.”_

His hands shake as he stares down at the revolver Mali has placed in his hands, the gun feeling heavy as he stares back up at his sister’s fear filled face. He can see the bite on her shoulder clearly now, the deep wound appearing menacing, taunting him almost. He wonders if the Wendigo has already begun to take her over, to turn his sister into a mindless cannibal.

With a deep breath, he aims the gun at his sister. With another breath, he whispers, “I love you.”

With one last breath, he pulls the trigger.


	10. Despair

The revolver falls to the floor with a clang, Calum shaking as he stares in horror at his sister. “ _Fuck!”_ he shouts, backing away from the gun, eyes never leaving his sister’s now slumped body. He feels himself falling backwards into Michael’s embrace, sobbing into the boy’s chest as he turns away from his sister’s body. The image of her tear-streaked face, her sobs echoing in his ears as he pulled the trigger continue to repeat in his head over and over.

Now she was gone, and Calum blames _himself._

“I’m so sorry Cal,” Ashley whispers, disbelief in her voice as she looks at her now dead friend. “You shouldn’t have had to do that, you shouldn’t have.” She closes her eyes, tears falling silently as she shakes her head and turns away. Lynn envelops her into a hug, her own eyes glistening with unshed tears and hiding into Ashley’s neck.

A hand rests against Calum’s shoulder, Luke looking at Michael while rubbing soothing circles into the crying boy’s shoulder. “I’m going to go find Louis,” he declares, picking the revolver up off of the ground and releasing a shaky sigh. “I meant what I said before; I want as many of us to live through tonight as we can. You are welcome to join me.”

“Shouldn’t we stay in here?” Ashley asks, voice unsteady. “I know you want to save Louis, and I do as well, but we can’t risk more of us getting killed by that fucking thing. We should just stay here, safe, at least until morning.” She looks to Michael, hoping for an agreement from her friend. “Mike?”

The boy doesn’t answer her, keeping his focus strictly on Calum as he smooths down the boy’s unruly black curls. Calum looks up at him, sniffling slightly before he whispers, “Go.”

Michael shakes his head. “Calum, I don’t want to leave you behind, okay? I want to stay here and make sure you are okay. If I go out there, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to come back.” His voice is laced with fear as he speaks, and Calum can sense it easily. His word, though, still stands.

“Mali wanted to go after him,” he says, swallowing down the tears that threaten to reach the surface. “The least we can all do is try, right?” He removes himself from Michael’s embrace, heading towards the open bag Mali had brought down into the basement and pulls out a journal, tossing it to Michael. “Mali had said the woman had a survival journal in the bag. Maybe there is something in there that could tell us about the Wendigo, something that can help us get past it and save Louis.”

Ashley hands them the worn bag, Calum diving his hand inside of it and pulling out what appears to be a worn, leather-bound journal. The pages appear worn, some of the ink smudged from usage. Blood spots appear on certain pages along with the stained ink, and Calum wonders momentarily just how much the mysterious woman must have endured down in the mines, and for just how _long._

“Good hell this woman was a badass,” Michael comments, flipping the page and continuing to read. “I wouldn’t last a minute up against those damn things. She had to have been awfully damn close to them to learn any of this.”

Ashley points to a certain spot on the page, reading in horror. “Those things can _mock their prey._ Jesus Christ, what the hell are we up against here?”

“Something that is definitely going to take more than one of us to take down,” Luke speaks up, picking up the shotgun against one of the bookshelves and holding it out to Michael. “Looks like she had enough ammo in here to get us through, hopefully. Woman was prepared for just about anything up here, so as long as we keep her bag with us, we should be safe.”

“I still don’t feel comfortable with you two going after that damn thing,” Ashton tells him, arms crossed as he leans against the wall. “I agree with Ashley. Shouldn’t we just stay down here, just like the woman instructed us to do? At least if we stay down here, the only thing we could be fending off is some occasional rats.” Luke opens his mouth to protest, only for Ashton to beat him to the punch with his index finger hanging in the air. “I know Louis means a lot to you, meant a lot to Jack. Hell, Louis is still our friend. I just don’t want to lose any more people tonight than we already have.”

“That is why we are looking through this journal here,” Michael insists, picking the journal up and flicking to the next page. “So far we’ve discovered it can imitate its prey, fears fire? This is pretty useful when going up against this damn thing.” Another page is turned, Michael opening his mouth to speak only for a sharp gasp to leave his mouth, agony swimming in his emerald eyes. “Oh god _no.”_

Calum gets up from his chair, reaching for the book with confusion. “What’s wrong? What does it say?” He frowns as Michael moves the book away from him, his eyes reading through the passage once more as if he had read it wrong, it _had_ to be wrong. “Mikey, you are scaring us.”

Michael looks up from the book, clearing his throat as he stares into the boy’s eyes. “It says,” he starts, looking back at the book with sorrow. “It says if they bite you, it isn’t infectious. The bites don’t do _anything.”_

A strangled cry leaves Calum’s mouth, the boy nearly collapsing to the floor as Michael catches him before he can. He allows the boy to curl into his arms, sob into his chest as he avoids looking across the room at Mali’s dead body, how they had killed her for _nothing._ She wasn’t going to turn, she wasn’t going to become one of those creatures and kill them all.

“I’m so sorry Calum,” Lynn whispers, stepping forward towards the boy as her own eyes fill with tears. “I- “

“ _You’re not!”_ Calum screams at her, twisting in Michael’s arms. “Weren’t you the one _demanding_ she be killed? Fuck you!”

“She didn’t know!” Ashley defends, getting up from her spot across the room with arms crossed. “You cannot blame her for being scared, okay? All of us were fucking terrified Cal! We didn’t know just what we were dealing with, hell we still don’t!  I know you are upset right now, but don’t take it out on her!”

“His sister is _dead!”_ Michael shouts at his friend, grip on Calum growing tighter as the boy sobs. “He shot his own fucking sister, because we _all_ thought that she was going to turn. He is allowed to be upset right now, to scream and yell. The last thing we need to do is start fighting with each other, alright?” He turns to look at Luke, sighing softly as he takes the gun from his friend’s hands. “I’m going with you to end these things.”

“I think you should stay with Calum,” Ashton shakes his head. “You will be the greatest source of comfort for him right now, don’t you think?”

Calum looks up at Michael, sniffling before he whispers, “Go. I’ll be fine.” The way his voice cracks proves otherwise, but as the boy loosens his grip on Michael’s wrist, turning to look at him with eyes still shedding tears, he says, “Go kill that fucking thing.”

Michael grins, leaning down to capture a kiss from Calum’s lips before looking towards the group. “None of you leave, okay? This is the safe room, and until Luke and I get back none of you move.” The group seems to be in agreement, the remaining four nodding with their glances towards the ground as Michael and Luke head towards where the map shows a tunnel. With one last glance, Michael looks towards Calum, who is now curled closer to Ashton.

He was going to kill the Wendigo for Calum, he promises that much.

**

“Do you think he could still be alive?” Luke asks as they approach what he can only hope is the entrance to the mines. A metal door sits before them, a bit dented from what Luke could only believe to be the Wendigo fighting against it. He pulls the handle with all the strength in him, gasping at just how heavy it appears to be but sighing with relief that the door opens. “Louis?”

Michael trudges behind him, shotgun in hand as he peeks around the new territory. “We can only hope, can’t we?” he tells his friend honestly, shutting the door behind them and placing the lock into place. Lord knows what could have possibly followed them towards the tunnel, and the last thing he wants is to be killed before they could get back to their friends. “Maybe those things have some ounce of sympathy?”

“I doubt it,” Luke scoffs, the noise echoing into the air. “Maybe if we are lucky we won’t have an encounter with one.”

It’s a long shot, really, to be hope for such a thing. If what they had read in the journal held any truth, these mines were practically infested with those creatures. It’s then that Luke wishes he had grabbed the journal before they had left, just in case they needed some tips on how to survive down here. Luke may have some experience when it came to hunting, but it was for animals. These things were a whole new thing in his world, and he knows damn well they were not going to be as gentle as the animals he would hunt with his father.

“Do you think Liam and Niall are dead?” Michael asks him after a long walk of silence. “Or Harry even? He didn’t come back with Mali, and I know Liam and Niall went to the guest cabin who knows if they stayed there?”

Luke didn’t want to think of the chance three more of his friends were dead. He knew it was possibly the cruel reality of it all, that being out there they could have already been killed. There was a small ounce of hope, though, that maybe they had lived. Liam was stubborn, Luke knew that, and he would definitely fight back against anything. Niall would be by his side, and if Liam went down, Niall would shortly after.

He didn’t like the way he was thinking, but it was now as if the image was burned into his brain.

“I’d rather not think about it,” Luke confesses, stepping cautiously over a puddle of water. A cold breeze tickles Luke’s cheeks as he wrinkles his nose, the ominous dripping of water ahead making him alert. “Do you think we are getting close?”

“God I hope so,” Michael admits as he follows Luke down another endless tunnel. “The faster we get out of here, the better I will feel.”

A loud screech alerts them, both boys turning towards the direction of the noise with their guns poised. The sound of nails against rock hits the air, and before either boy can react something drops from above them and lands directly in front of them, another loud screech leaving its mouth. Without a second thought, Luke has already shot directly at the Wendigo’s chest, sending it backwards as the boys take off back the way they came.

“Go towards the other tunnel!” Luke instructs, taking off towards it without Michael’s approval. Before Michael can turn and see just where his friend has gone he has already vanished, the Wendigo appearing before Michael once more with its teeth bared, mouth bloody from what must have been an interrupted meal. The thought makes Michael gasp in horror and its only when the creature launches at him that his finger reaches the trigger of his weapon. The Wendigo is blasted backwards, and Michael cheers as he takes off into a separate tunnel from Luke.

He's not sure which tunnel the thing will go down if it will continue after him to finish his hunt, but Michael hopes he can find Luke before anything else happens.

**

“I don’t think this is a good idea.”

It’s the fifth time the words have left Ashley’s mouth since they left the basement, flashlights in hand as they follow the tunnel towards the mines. It had been Ashton’s idea to leave the basement, insisting that Michael and Luke couldn’t take on the Wendigos alone. While Calum had been awfully quick to agree with his friend, the thought of losing Michael making his decision quickly, Ashley and Lynn had been hesitant. It was understandable for them to be, truly, but Calum was getting a little sick of their complaining.

“We don’t have much of a choice, do we?” Calum snaps at her, the words coming out a little crueler than he had intended. He notices how his friend recoils at the bite behind his words, but can’t bring himself to apologize as he pushes himself forward to keep with Ashton’s pace. “See a door yet, Ash?”

The curly haired boy shakes his head, the headlight attached to his head illuminating his line of sight. “We should be getting close though. According to the map the tunnel wasn’t that far away.” He turns another corner, and Calum can hear the sound of Ashton’s feet hitting the ground roughly as the boy runs towards what Calum could only hope was their way to Michael and Luke.

When he turns the corner, he finds Ashton cursing at the closed door, turning back to face them. “They locked it behind them. We have to find another way into the mines.”

“What about this?” Lynn speaks up, kneeling down towards what appears to be a manhole cover. “This could be another way in, right?” She turns to Ashley, tugging her girlfriend’s arm so she can kneel down beside her. “Help me get this off.”

“Not like we have any other choices,” Ashley mumbles, walking to the other side of the manhole and lifting the cover up, helping Lynn place it off towards the side. The four friends peek down into the sewer, a ladder leading down into what could hopefully be their way into the mines. “Who wants to go first?” Ashley jokes.

“I guess I will,” Ashton declares, stepping foot into the hole and grabbing the ladder. He peeks down below him, cringing as he notices a small rat cower away from the light. “Well, I’m not dead yet so I assume this is a good option.” He drops down the last few steps, landing with a thud as he peeks up at his friends. “It’s safe!”

Calum goes next, dropping down quickly as Ashley takes her time down each ladder step. Lynn watches them cautiously from above, biting at her nails as her girlfriend motions for her to come on down. “Close the lid on your way!” Ashley shouts at her, looking towards Ashton and Calum who have already made the decision to move forward. “We won’t be far, just catch up with us, okay?”

“Okay!” Lynn shouts back, taking a deep breath before she to climbs down into the sewer. She gasps as her hand comes in contact with the cold metal, gripping the manhole cover and pulling it over until the place is covered in darkness. Save for her flashlight, it is hard to see much aside from where the light illuminates the sewer. Even her friends appear to be out of sight now, something that gives her the chills as she finally lands on sturdy ground.

“Ashley?” she calls ahead, only for the whistle of cold mountain air to greet her in response. She shakes her head, noting in her head to chastise her girlfriend for leaving her behind in such a situation as this. Lynn was already frightened, scared out of her damn mind regarding the night’s previous events. The last thing she wanted was to be left alone, especially when whatever had attacked Mali could still be lurking around somewhere.

As she treks forward, keeping an eye out for any turns that her friends could have gone to, a voice calls out. It’s sobbing, a male’s voice that suddenly cuts through the air and catches Lynn’s attention as she pauses, looking ahead of her at what appears to be another cave. “Hello?” she calls hesitantly, flashing her flashlight down the cave.

“Help me!” a familiar voice calls out to her, and Lynn’s heart drops into her stomach. “Please!”

“Niall!” she shouts back, careful to watch her footing as she drops down into the cave where the voice calls. “Is that you?”

The sobbing continues as she continues on, the cave growing colder as she approaches the voice. “Please!” Niall’s voice sobs, and Lynn’s heart continues to break at just how broken the boy sounds. She barely knew him, only a few conversations here and there, but the last thing she wanted was for him to be alone. God knows how long he had been down here, possibly losing sight of Liam on their way towards the cabin.

A loud banging begins, Lynn shining her light further ahead to find what appears to be a trap door up ahead. Something bangs against it roughly, rattling the lock placed on it. “Niall?” Lynn calls out, only to be ignored in favor of more hitting against the wood. With her heart thudding erratically in her chest, Lynn crouches down towards the trap door, hands moving the lock from the trap door and pulling it open.

She’s met with nothing but dirt ground, barrels of what appears to be gasoline lined up. “Niall?” she whispers, swallowing down the fear in her throat as she leans forward to get a closer look into the entrance.

A scream erupts from her throat as a creature launches forward, it’s claws placing themselves on her head as it twists rather violently, snapping her neck before shoving her backwards. While her body falls to the ground, her head falls a little further away, mouth open in shock as the Wendigo climbs over her body, grabbing the head with its decaying hand before pulling her body down into the trap door.

**

Calum swears he hears someone yell in the distance, making him stop in his tracks. Ashton and Ashley seem to notice their friend no longer following them, making them pause and turn back to them with their own looks of confusion evident on their faces. “Cal, what’s up?” Ashton asks, walking back towards him and looking at his friend. “Did you see something?”

“More like heard?” Calum tells him, holding a finger up to silence his friends. Another yell hits the air, and Calum’s heart leaps. “Fuck, that’s Michael!” While Ashton shouts at him not to run ahead, Calum ignores his friend as he continues forward towards where he swears he heard Michael yelling. His blood is rushing in his ears as he darts towards the noises, heart threatening to launch out of his throat as he notices a figure in the distance running towards him.

“Mikey!” Calum cries, the figure ahead of him running towards him at the sound of the name. A shotgun rests in their hands as they grow closer, and Calum nearly cries with relief when Michael appears in his sights, relief in his eyes as he pulls Calum into a large hug. “Fuck, I’m so glad we found you.”

Michael presses comforting kisses into Calum’s dark curls, arms wrapped tightly around the boy as he peeks behind him at Ashton and Ashley, both of whom have managed to catch up to their quick friend and look just as relieved. “Fuck, I thought we told you guys to stay in the basement?”

“We weren’t about to let you handle those things alone,” Ashley tells him, arms open wide to pull Michael into a hug. “Did you find Louis?”

Michael shakes his head, turning to look at Ashton with an apology at the tip of his tongue. “I lost sight of Luke. That thing came after us, and we ended up going different directions. I tried looking for him, I did, but then that thing started chasing me again and I had to get away.”

“You don’t know where he is?” Ashton gasps, the thought of Luke being lost piercing his heart painfully. “Fuck, we need to find him. Who knows what could happen to him out there alone.” He turns to Ashley, who looks equally in pain as Ashton does. “Why don’t you and Calum go look for Lynn, Michael and I can go search for Luke? That way no one is alone.”

“It’s a dead end down there,” Michael tells him with a shake of his head. “I tried finding him the way I came, but there was no chance I was getting back there. The ladder broke on my way down, it’s pretty much toast.”

“Then you and the others go back and find Lynn, I’m going to keep going,” Ashton decides, heading towards the way Michael came with determination. “Luke is out there somewhere, alone, and I am not about to let him get himself killed. If I have to climb my way out of this god damn mine I will, if it means he is safe.” He sighs, reaching down to grab Michael’s abandoned shotgun and holding it in his grasp. “I’ll be okay, just go find Lynn, okay?”

“Good luck!” Michael shouts to him, taking Calum’s hand before following them back the way they came. With a deep breath, Ashton looks forward towards where Michael came out, his grip on the shotgun tightening as he steps forward. Whatever would be awaiting him back there, he was ready for.

**

Michael wasn’t joking when he said the ladder was pretty much toast; the remaining pieces of it were scattered at Ashton’s feet. From the looks of it, the climb would be a rough one if Ashton wanted to get up there. He takes a deep breath, eyes on the ledge up above as he steps forward, keeping a tight grip on the rock as he begins the climb to the top. His feet slip from underneath him a few times, the rocks slippery and taking him by surprise at moments, but when he gets a decent grip on what feels like a walking path, he pulls himself upward and cheers.

“I beat you!” he taunts the rocks, a proud grin on his face as he looks onward. He’s quick to adjust his head lamp to focus on the tunnel ahead, taking a deep breath and making sure the shotgun in his grasp is loaded. Anything could happen in the next few steps, and he was going to be ready for whatever happened to come his way.

A walkway makes itself clear, stairs leading upward helping guide Ashton one way at least. He assumes this had to be where Michael had come from, looking to his left only to notice a broken walkway leading back down for god knows how long. His grip on the shotgun tightens even more as he takes the steps quickly, not wasting any time on his journey to get back to Luke.

It frightens him to imagine that those things, the Wendigos, live down here. It made sense, to live somewhere dark and eerie, but at the same time the mystery of what these mines could hold is what has Ashton frightened the most. Every turn reveals something it felt, either it be claw marks against the rocks or what could possibly be the stench of rotting flesh invading his nostrils. Either way, he wants to leave this mine as fast as he can.

An ear piercing screech hits his ears, making him jump where he stands as he turns around. While nothing seems to be following him, he can’t help but aim the shotgun forward, finger itching at the trigger in case one appears out of nowhere. It wouldn’t surprise him at the slightest if one were to jump out at him, claws ready to tear him apart like a Christmas present.

The thought of Luke going up against one of these things alone, it was unbearable.

Another tunnel appears, Ashton noticing a door at the end of it that hung open slightly. As he steps forward, hoping and praying it led to the outside, a figure bursts through it, attempting to slam what appears to be a flaming creature behind them. Ashton’s heart nearly leaps out of his chest when he notices it’s _Luke._

“Stay out there!” Luke screams at the creature, falling backward as the door bursts open and the flaming Wendigo climbs on top of him, claws ready to pierce through the boy’s skin at any moment. In fear of possibly igniting the flame more, Ashton drops the shotgun in favor of a nearby shovel, launching forward and smacking the Wendigo straight in the head.

“Stay away from him!” Ashton screams, swinging the shovel once more at the Wendigo as it launches towards him. The swing is powerful enough to knock the thing’s head off, sending it tumbling away as the body crumbles to the ground. Luke scrambles up from the ground, grabbing Ashton’s shotgun and using it as a lock for the door before taking a deep breath.

When he looks up, the relief is obvious. “Oh god, _Ash!”_ Luke cries, launching forward and holding the boy tightly in his grasp. Ashton can’t help but wrap his arms just as tightly around his friend, the relief of finding Luke alive nearly bringing tears to his eyes as he holds his boy close to him. “Why are you down here?”

“Wasn’t about to leave you and Mike down here without any help,” Ashton confesses, pulling away from Luke and cupping the boy’s face. “God, when Michael told me that the two of you got separated, I thought you could be _dead.”_

Luke chuckles, probably not the best moment to do so but regardless Ashton smiles. “Surprised I’m alive, honestly, but here I am,” Luke laughs, reaching forward to swipe some dirt from Ashton’s cheek. If their lives weren’t at stake, a Wendigo possibly creeping around the corner ready to strike, Ashton would have kissed him.

Instead he takes Luke’s hand, looking back with a deep sigh. “Let’s go find out where this fucker lives and end this, okay?”

With a nod from Luke, the two of them take off back into the mines, their only goal now to save their friend.


	11. Resolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are! I'm so sad to see this story go, considering I spent an entire year perfecting it and making it what I hope was a fantastic fic for each and every one of you. Thank you for sticking with me throughout this, for allowing me to torment you all with suspense and character deaths. It was definitely a step out of my element, but it was nice to not write something super fluffy and cute. 
> 
> Enjoy this, epilogue to come.

“Do you think Louis could even still be alive?” Luke asks as they continue to trek through the mines, arms wrapped tightly around himself for warmth. It feels as though they have been walking for ages now, nothing but cold air and the whistles of winter keeping them company through the darkness. Luke thanks every star in the sky for no more encounters with the Wendigo, though he still remains on edge with every corner they turn. “Seeing what these things can do, do you really think they would just bring him down here and _not_ kill him?”

Ashton shrugs, shining his flashlight down yet another path. “Unless it has some kind of emotion in it, I highly doubt those things would keep someone alive down here. Let’s not think like that though, yeah?” He stops, sighing as he turns to face Luke with a sympathetic glance. “The last thing that needs to be on your mind right now is another friend being dead. There is a possibility he is alive down here somewhere, okay? Don’t lose hope.”

“So much for getting over what happened last year, right?” Luke scoffs, sniffling as tears begin to prick at his icy blue eyes. “It wasn’t enough for the universe to take away my brothers, but it had to steal my friends away from me too?”

The emptiness in Luke’s eyes is what has Ashton reaching forward, taking Luke’s hand into his own and forcing the boy to look at him. It feels like déjà vu, with Luke’s eyes so sad and vacated. He hasn’t seen Luke this low since the year before, after the police had arrived at his home to break the news that they couldn’t find Ben and Jack. It wasn’t fair for Luke to go through this again, it wasn’t.

“If I have anything to say about it, no one else dies tonight,” Ashton declares, using his index finger to hold Luke’s chin in place. “I am making a promise to you right now that I will do whatever it takes to make sure no one else has to be taken away from you tonight, okay? I’ll do anything.”

Luke nods, wiping at his eyes before looking off towards a separate path. A noise hits his ears, a trickling sound making him raise an eyebrow as he looks back at Ashton with confusion. “Do you hear running water or is that just me?”

The two boys continue forward, ears tuning in for the sound with each step they take. It begins to sound even closer, Luke notices, the further they walk towards the end of the path. It takes Luke by surprise when they suddenly enter a clearing, some of the moonlight shining up from above illuminating a body of water just ahead of them. A wheel continues to spin through it, though Luke is sure that the job it previously was put in for was no longer currently working.

With another step forward, Luke nearly falls flat on his face as a sudden hole takes him by surprise. Ashton catches before he can topple to the ground face first, the two boys gasping as Luke scrambles back up to his feet at the sight below him.

“A grave?” Luke gasps, staring in horror as what appear to be human bones stick out from the dirt. Broken wood shards are scattered alongside the hole, Luke deducing that there must have been some sort of makeshift cross here, or at least something to mark just whose grave this was. He turns to Ashton, the image of the bones burnt into his mind as he asks, “Do you think it was Ben’s? Like Mali had said?”

“Possibly?” Ashton wonders, looking around the area. “She said she found his head though, where is his head? Don’t you think it would be somewhere around this area if this really is his grave?”

“Maybe it’s across this body of water,” Luke decides, looking at the water with a shiver. “I really don’t want to go in there, but there could be the chance Louis is over there, or at least Ben’s head? I don’t see any other way to get around it.”

The water looks _freezing,_ and Ashton isn’t even sure himself if it is completely safe to go in. For all he knew those Wendigos could survive underwater like fish and attack them. After everything has seen tonight, that would be one of the least surprising things to discover. “We might not have much of a choice,” Ashton agrees, crouching down towards the water and taking a deep breath before gently sliding into the water.

He wasn’t wrong, the water is quite icy. He can feel his body go numb from the freezing temperature, but he tries to keep a brave face as he turns back to Luke, giving him a thumbs up to join him into the water.

When Luke gets in, he nearly squeals at the temperature. “Holy _fuck,_ I can’t feel my fingers!”

“The faster we move through this, the faster we can get out,” Ashton assures him, adjusting his head light as he looks towards the left. “Okay, there seems to be an exit over that way, but also one straight ahead. I think we should check both ends out, just in case Louis could be at either one.” He begins to move towards the left, motioning for Luke to follow as he keeps his hands above the water, not wanting to lose them to possible hypothermia.

His toes, on the other hand, will probably have to suffer.

The two boys pull themselves out of the water quickly once they reach one of the two exits, Luke jumping up and down in an attempt to warm himself up from the freezing temperature of the water. His skin tingles as the cool air of the mines hits his exposed skin, his teeth still chattering as he steps forward, observing the space around him.

“I see something over there,” Ashton points out, motioning towards what appears to be a folder near one of the mine walls. Luke steps towards it, picking it up off of the mine floor and flipping it open, gasping as he notices the writing along the sheets of paper.

“This is Jack’s handwriting,” he whispers, heart twisting at the thought of his brother. There is a slight smile on his face, however, at the thought of despite the circumstances, Jack still managed to write what was happening down somewhere. It made sense for his brother to do so, and the very thing has Luke missing his brother even more. “It says, ‘ _My brother is dead. The fall has killed my twin, leaving me alone down here. I’m so cold, and I cannot move my leg. Someone must be out there looking for us.’”_

“This goes on for thirty _days,”_ Ashton gasps, skimming a few pages and reading the dates written at the top. “Fuck, he was down here for so long. I can’t believe we didn’t think to look in here, did the police not know these mines even existed?”

Luke bites down on his bottom lip, flipping another page as his brother’s words turn desperate. “He documented everything, Ash. Burying Ben, how hungry he was, losing hope?” He turns another page, eyes widening in horror as the top of the page reads _Day 30._ “Ash, look.”

Ashton peeks over Luke’s shoulder, his own eyes scanning the words on the page with the same amount of horror. “’ _I’m so sorry, Ben, I don’t have much of a choice. I’m so, so hungry. I’m dying. If anyone finds this, please know that I didn’t have any other choice. I need energy, I need to get out of here and find help. I’m so, so sorry.’_ Luke, you don’t think he?”

Another turn of the page, and Luke drops the folder. The page’s scatter across the mine floor, his hands trembling as he turns to Ashton in shock. “Ashton, fuck, I think Louis might still be alive. If Jack really did write all of this, if he really did,” he swallows, eyes closing as he whispers, “ _Eat_ Ben, he must have…”

“Become one of those things,” Ashton finishes, running a hand through his hair. It jolts the headlight slightly, Ashton cursing under his breath. “Jack must have been the one to drag him down here. Maybe some part of him, the human part, recognized him and didn’t kill him. Maybe.”

Walking back towards the water, Luke is quick to jump in once more, ignoring the cold rush of the water as he turns back to Ashton, beckoning the boy to join him. “We need to find Louis as soon as possible. C’mon!”

**

The other exit is blocked off by a door, one with a heavy latch keeping it shut. A small window up top allows Luke to try and peek in, hopefully to see Louis somewhere, but the only thing that catches his eye happens to be cages and wooden pillars. “He has to be in there somewhere,” Luke mumbles, trying to keep the hope inside of him alive. He needed Louis to know what happened to Jack, he needed Louis to know that they were going to get him _help._

“Want me to open it?” Ashton asks, a hand resting on Luke’s shoulder to keep the boy steady. Luke only shakes his head, hands wrapping around the latch and taking a deep breath. The boys meet eyes, a decision made as Luke forces the latch up, only for the two of them to fall backwards as a flood of water forced the door open.

The two boys scramble back up to their feet, Luke’s eyes locking on objects that come floating through the gush of water. He screams when one of them happens to lock eyes with him, icy blue meeting cold, dead eyes of who he _knows._

“That’s…” Ashton chokes on his words, attempting to blink away the image as he shines the headlight down onto the water. “That’s _Niall.”_

Luke nods, vomit rising up his throat as he watches the heads of his friends collide with each other at the end of the small river. Niall’s stares up at him horrifically, jaw suspiciously missing while Liam’s head collides with it, blood smeared around the boy’s lips. He turns around, emptying his stomach before screeching when one of the heads brushes his leg.

“Niall, Liam, Geordie,” Ashton counts, keeping the nausea at bay as he observes the floating heads. “The woman who helped us…oh my god, _Lynn.”_

Luke takes a deep breath, turning himself back around to notice Ashley’s girlfriend’s head resting against the mine floor, her mouth dangling open and horror captured in her dead eyes. “She never caught up to you guys,” he whispers, Ashton nodding his head solemnly before looking ahead into the room they opened up. “Fuck, I’m not sure I want to go in there.”

“We have to,” Ashton insists, stepping over Liam’s head to enter the room. “Louis could be somewhere in there. He has to be.”

While Luke knows Ashton is right, that somewhere in that room their friend could still be _alive,_ the thought of possibly finding more bodies, more of their friends decaying corpses? It was enough to make him want to plant his feet into the ground and not move until dawn. It might not be safe, but at least he wouldn’t have to see any more of the gruesome body horror that has happened to his friends.

Still, he takes Ashton’s hand in his to help steady him as the two venture inside. He makes the mistake of looking up ahead, the vomit threatening to make a second appearance as the rest of his friend’s bodies hang from above them. It helps him breathe a little easier knowing that some of them are nowhere to be seen, meaning at least some of them have survived, but the thought of them possibly joining the ranks has him clutching his stomach once more.

He moves towards the wall, heaving once more onto the ground while Ashton keeps a steady hand on his back. Soothing circles are rubbed into his back as he continues to empty his stomach, the images of his dead friends permanently burned into his eyes as he keeps a steady hand against the wall to calm himself. When he finishes, he looks up through the slits in the wooden panels, gasping when he notices movement behind them.

“Ash,” he whispers, moving backward from the wall. “It’s Louis! He’s behind this wall!”

“Are you sure?” Ashton asks as Luke begins to move forward, turning the corner and out of sight. He curses under his breath as he makes a move to catch up to his crush, only to stop before crashing into Luke’s back from the corner.

Right ahead of them, mumbling to himself and clutching his head, was Louis. Blood splatters cover his legs as he stumbles on his feet, his words incoherent as the two boys approach him gently. Luke isn’t quite sure just what is going through Louis’ head; if it was a panic attack, a mental break? He wasn’t even sure if it was alright to break him out of it, if he could even _talk_ him out of it.

“Lou?” Ashton says softly, stepping closer to the boy. “Hey, Louis, are you there? You okay?”

“Stay away from me,” Louis warns, stepping backwards but never quite looking up to meet his friend’s eyes. “You are dead, nothing about you is _real.”_

Luke’s heart _shatters_ at how helpless his friend sounds. It makes him wonder just what Louis has seen down here, if his mental illness has twisted everything around in his head to create a whole new world to cope with all of the madness the night has brought.

He wonders if Louis blames _himself._

He reaches for Louis’ hand, peeling it away from his face and resting his own hand against his friend’s cheek. The boy’s breathing seems to even out slightly, his blue eyes looking up to meet Luke’s. They are broken, empty. It’s unexpected when he tears his face out of Luke’s reach, falling backwards and screaming at Luke.

“You are not real!” He cries, sobbing into his hands on the ground. “You died Jack! I couldn’t save you! _Why couldn’t I save you?”_

“Louis, I’m Luke!” Luke assures him, stepping towards his friend once more. “Snap out of it, please! I promise you are safe now, Ashton and I are both here and we want to _help.”_ He crouches down, easing towards Louis carefully before he reaches forward to Louis’ cheek once more, this time slapping it gently in hopes that at least some jolt would shake his friend out of his confusion.

Louis blinks, looking at Luke with some slight confusion before sobbing. He reaches forward, wrapping his arms around Luke and allowing the tears to leak into Luke’s neck as the boy holds him. “ _Fuck,_ Luke, oh my god.”

“Are you okay?” Ashton asks him, crouching down with them and holding a hand to Louis’ shoulder. “We thought we had lost you there for a minute.”

Louis softly nods, though it doesn’t seem too convincing. “That thing, the thing that brought me down here? It could still be around here somewhere. We need to, we need to move.” He gets up, with Luke’s help at least, and looks ahead at what appears to be jagged rocks leading up. Moonlight shines through it, snow glistening at the bottom and Luke swears he has never felt so _hopeful._ “Maybe, maybe that way?”

“You wouldn’t be able to climb up there,” Ashton tells him, sighing as he looks up at the climb. It looks steep, and Ashton certainly wouldn’t want either one of them climbing it and possibly snapping their necks if they eventually fall. “I can try, though. Maybe I can find the others and tell them we found Louis.”

“Are you sure you want to try and climb that?” Luke questions, himself shivering from the possibility of Ashton snapping his neck on the climb. “It doesn’t appear safe, Ash. Maybe you should just follow Lou and I back. Safety in numbers?”

Ashton shakes his head, taking Luke’s hands in his. “I promise you two can make it through here alive, alright? Just take him back the way we came, and we can meet back at the lodge.” Without another word, Luke finds himself being pulled closer into Ashton’s embrace, their lips suddenly meeting in a gentle, farewell kiss. It wasn’t anywhere near perfect, slightly sloppy from the unexpectedness of it all, but Luke still feels wobbly when Ashton pulls away from him. “Be safe, okay?”

“Always am,” Luke lies, but it’s enough to at least bring back some of the hope he’s lost tonight. Maybe if he keeps repeating that to himself, it could possibly come true. “You be safe to, okay? I...” He bites his tongue, shaking his head to stop himself from saying those words. It wasn’t the right time; this entire night hasn’t been the right time. “Just make sure you make it back, okay? I’ll be pretty pissed if you don’t.”

Ashton chuckles, shaking his head before pecking Luke’s lips once more. “I love you too.” He then steps away, turning back towards the rock wall ahead of them and leaping up, gripping one of the rocks and pulling himself up. Luke’s heart thuds in his chest as Ashton’s words swirl around in his muddled brain, lips tingling as he turns back to find Louis, _fuck, Louis,_ and pats his friend’s arm.

“Let’s get going,” he clears his throat, his demeanor far from stoic as they head back towards the room with their friend’s bodies. Luke’s fear is obvious when they step in there, and it breaks his heart when he notices Louis’ utter horror as well.

“ _No,”_ the boy sobs, shaking as he wraps his arms around himself. “Oh god, that thing, did it do all of this?”

Luke knows the underlying question between Louis’ words. It’s obvious as the boy speaks, agony in his eyes as he notices the bodies of their friends dangling up above them. _Did I do this? Is it possible I hurt them?_

Luke simply nods, a soft sigh leaving his lips as he encourages Louis forward. He tries his best not to look down at his feet as they pass the various heads, vomit staying put in his stomach as he comes to a standstill at the water. He looks towards Louis, nodding as if to assure him the water was safe, albeit _freezing,_ before he jumps in.

“Luke?”

Louis stands at the drop, uneasy as he stares at the water before he speaks. “I found a folder down here, with Jack’s handwriting. He, is he the one doing all of this to us? Is he one of those things?” The boy looks completely heartbroken as he says those words, and Luke understands the pain as the ache of knowing his brother was indeed _one of those things_ hits him once more.

He gives Louis a nod, at the boy sniffles before he to lands himself into the water. Louis’ teeth chatter obnoxiously the minute his body hits the surface, but Luke has no right to blame him for that. He too is attempting to keep his teeth chattering at quite the minimum.

When the water ahead of them ripples slightly, it’s only two seconds before Luke finds himself being pulled underneath the water by something with _claws._

“Luke!” Louis shouts, stepping forward only for something to rise from the water, making Louis scream as he makes eye contact with it. It’s horrific, the creature that has caused so much damage this night finally face to face with him with its ugly white eyes and bony body.

A black butterfly on the creature’s arm is what makes Louis gasp in horror, tears threatening to come back. “Jack?”

The creature releases a loud screech, the sound nearly deafening Louis as he its grabs Louis by his throat, suddenly dragging him backwards towards the area he had just managed to escape from. No matter how much Louis screams, thrashes around in Jack’s grasp as his former best friend drags him back to his hell, it appears his fate has already been sealed.

From nearby, a soaking wet Luke watches with sorrow before taking off back towards the tunnels in which he came.

**

It’s been hours; navigating through the endless mine shafts, climbing over debris that seemed to block just about every pathway available. So when Harry eventually stumbles across what appears to be a lantern resting against table top, he can’t help but sigh with relief that at least he won’t be stumbling about in complete darkness.

The minute he gets the lantern lit up, however, he hears someone grunt, making him turn and almost topple over as a shovel nearly takes his head off. He reaches forward, grabbing the shovel by the handle as the person holding it gasps, releasing their own grip on it and staring at Harry in shock.

“Oh my _god,”_ Ashley cries, reaching forward and pulling Harry into a hug. “Fuck, you are still alive. When Mali came back without you we were so worried, she didn’t know what happened.” She pulls away, a hand still resting against Harry’s bicep as she attempts a small smile as she asks, “Have you seen Lynn anywhere around here? I lost sight of her, and then I got lost from Mike and Cal.”

Harry shakes his head, and Ashley frowns. “I’m sorry, Ash, I can’t say I have. I’ve been all alone down here for quite some time now. You’re the first person I have come in contact with.” He shines the light forward, beginning to walk further down into the mines as he asks, “How did you end up down here anyway?”

Ashley chuckles softly, though it sounds more bitter than it does heartwarming. “We came down here to look for Luke and Michael. They came down here to search for Louis, who got dragged down here by _something…”_

Harry stops his movement, looking at Ashley with utter confusion. “What do you mean _something?_ Do you mean the maniac?”

“All a sham,” Ashley tells him, shaking her head angrily as her fists clench at her sides. “Louis was pulling a prank on us. There wasn’t anyone after us to begin with.” She lets out a large breath, releasing her fists before saying, “Whatever it is that is stalking us now? It isn’t human. I, I can’t quite explain everything to you right now, but please believe me when I say we need to get out of here.”

“Is Louis okay?” Harry can’t help but ask, his heart still in his chest as he awaits an answer. “Mali? You said that she came back to you guys, that she got out of here.”

Ashley becomes quiet then, continuing the trek forward but Harry knows she has heard him. It’s her silence that has him worrying, wondering just what could have happened to his friends in the time he has been lost down here. It’s when she speaks up that his heart shatters completely, and he forces himself to keep the tears at bay.

“I don’t know if Louis is even alive,” Ashley confesses to him, arms wrapped around herself tightly. “Mali, she got bit by whatever the hell has been stalking us. We didn’t know if she would be infected or not, if she would be turned into one of those things. She…” She chokes on a sob, wiping at her eyes furiously, as if she was angry that she was showing emotion. “ _Fuck,_ she asked Calum to shoot her, she’s fucking _dead.”_

Harry’s heart crumbles inside of him, the image of Mail’s smiling face running through his mind as he tries to picture her as _dead._ It just doesn’t seem right, that someone as young and courageous as Mali was taken away by a bullet to the head. She was never the type of face defeat, to give up.

It scared Harry even more that more of his friends could possibly have joined her ranks, and now he just wants to find whatever this thing was that was killing them and destroy it himself.

A loud scream echoes throughout the mine as both friends turn to face the source of the cry, shaking in fear. Ashley reaches blindly for Harry’s free hand, tugging him towards what appears to be a broken down shelter as the sound of claws scratching against the rock comes to their attention. “They can’t see us if we don’t move,” Ashley instructs, taking a deep breath as she leans up against the wooden panel. “Keep steady, okay? I promise they won’t attack if we stay still.”

Harry seems reluctant, unsure of Ashley’s words but steadies himself nonetheless against the wall. He holds his breath as he hears something come closer to them, scratching against the wood and the rock. The stench of death invades his nose, and it becomes harder and harder not to react as whatever is after them breathes behind them.

It seems to fade away after some time, Harry peeking softly around the corner before reaching for Ashley’s hand once more. “Let’s get out of here before it comes back,” he whispers to her, keeping a good grip on her hand as he moves further towards what he hopes is the moonlight outside. He can hear more screeching from behind them, heart thudding faster in his chest as he tries to move faster out of the mine.

He makes the mistake of turning around, nearly screaming in terror as he finally locks eyes with the damn thing. It’s horrifying, ugly, and enough to make him turn right back around and burst through a wooden panel to the outside. He nearly falls off the damn mountain as he bursts his way out, only to hurry and shuffle off towards the side with Ashley in tow.

The thing comes out after them only moments later, looking around feverishly for what Harry believes is their meal before the travel back into the mine. He releases the breath he was holding, pulling Ashley into an embrace as he chuckles.

“We’re alive,” he cheers quietly, and Ashley grins against his chest. “Let’s get the fuck off of this mountain, alright?”

Ashley nods in agreement, looking towards the trail down the mountain with hope filling her eyes. “Amen to that.”

**

Ashton couldn’t have been more grateful than when a small flake of snow hit against his cheek, alerting him that he had finally reached the surface. It had been quite a climb he’d endured, had definitely worked up quite a sweat, and to have finally reached the mountain once more and escaped the death filled mines was definitely a move towards good. He could only hope and pray that Luke and Louis had both made it out alive as well, were already making their way towards the lodge.

Quickly getting to his feet, Ashton begins to run towards the direction of the lodge, not bothering to look back towards the mines as he does. The faster he gets back to the lodge the better, and he’d rather not waste any more time out in the frozen woods with the possibility of death lurking at every turn. The cold winter air bites at every inch of his skin as he darts through the trees, the view of the shed in the distance allowing Ashton to sigh with relief.

It’s when he hears a loud screech in the distance that he stiffens, his feet somehow moving faster and carrying him towards the lodge. His heart beats erratically in his chest when he reaches the back door of the lodge, pounding on the door. “Guys, it’s me, Ashton! Let me in!”

A crunch in the snow alerts him, making him turn around and nearly scream when he catches sight of Luke standing behind him, the boy out of breath and appearing to be even more cut up and bloody. Ashton gasps, stepping forward and cupping Luke’s face to look at the cuts closely. “Fuck, you look like hell.”

Luke chuckles, hand reaching forward to wrap around Ashton’s wrist. “Both of us are going to look a hell lot worse if we continue to stand out here.” He steps away from the boy, reaching down to pick up a rock from the deck and smashes it against the window in the door. He reaches a hand in carefully, avoiding the sharp glass as he quickly unlocks the door and pushes it open, motioning for Ashton to come in with him.

“Luke, what happened to Louis?”

The boy sighs sadly, avoiding eye contact with Ashton as he says, “It got him.”

“Oh.” Ashton whispers, a guilty feeling spreading through him. If he had just stuck with them, gone the other way instead of venturing off on his own, maybe Louis could have made it back. Maybe.

The lodge is eerily silent, the only sound coming from the shutters upstairs as they continue to slam against the wall. Luke can only hope that his friends were gathered in the basement, safe and away from any possible danger that could have risen from the outside. He reaches gently for Ashton’s hand, the comfort of having the boy beside him making it a little easier as they head down towards the basement.

“How do you rate our chances of survival?” Ashton asks, wiping slightly at the blood splattered across his cheek. It smears against his hand, and Luke can’t help but notice all the cuts and scrapes against the boy’s skin. He assumes it had to have been from climbing, or maybe when he had fought off the Wendigo from Luke.

“I don’t really want to think about it,” Luke shutters, opening the basement door, only to scream when Michael and Calum come darting through it, screaming as they head towards the stairs of the lodge. Luke turns to look at what could have been following them, only for his eyes to widen in horror at the sight of three Wendigos climbing up the steps, teeth bared and menacing. “Fuck!” He screams, slamming the door shut and locking it before darting up the stairs with his friends.

“How did they get into the lodge?” Ashton screams ahead of him, darting towards the living room with Michael and Calum. He nearly trips going up a couple of steps, catching himself in the nick of time before he falls face first into the stairs. He grips onto the railing, turning back to wait for Luke to catch up before he continues on. “I thought we blocked off that entrance!”

There doesn’t come a reply from Michael and Calum, and it becomes understandable as Luke and Ashton dart into the living room, only to freeze where they stand when the notice just what has their friends frozen in horror.

A Wendigo balances above them on the chandelier, eyeing around the living room in search of movement. Their spider like body keeps them balanced on top of the hanging fixture, claws wrapped around it tightly as they look around with white eyes. Luke can just barely see what appears to be a black butterfly on the creature’s arm, and he chokes at the thought that this thing used to be his _brother._

“Don’t move,” Calum hisses towards them, keeping his eyes locked with the Wendigo. “They can’t see if you stay completely fucking still.”

Ashton makes some sort of noise in acknowledgement, trying his best to keep steady as he hears the Wendigos from the basement climb their way up the stairs. The creatures all stare at one another, some looking around the room in hopes of finding the teens but coming up short. One of the Wendigos looks up towards Jack, screeching loudly before launching towards him and tackling him to the ground, shattering the coffee table underneath them. Jack fights back quickly, swinging the creature towards the fireplace and detaching the gas pipe, allowing it to spread the gas throughout the house.

It’s almost as if the four of them all got the same idea at once. Luke casts a glance over to Michael, careful to keep his movements steady as he nods his head towards one of the exposed lamps nearby him. Michael gives him a nod in acknowledgement, creeping closer towards the exposed lightbulb while keeping an eye on both Calum and the Wendigos dueling it out in front of them.

The sound of the wooden floor creaking underneath his shoes makes Luke tense, and he can see Jack spinning around at the noise with a loud, ear piercing screech. Luke freezes himself, watching as what used to be his brother creeps towards him in such a predatorily stalk. Luke wonders if Jack can truly see who is in front of him, despite the blindness they seem to have. Does he know it’s Luke, his little brother? If he recognized Louis, would he recognize him?

The sound of a lightbulb shattering makes Jack turn away from him, only to focus in on Michael instead. Luke glances off towards where Ashton had been, or at least to Calum, and finds the two boys nowhere near where Michael currently stood, frozen in fear as Jack continued to stalk further towards him. Ashton was already near the door, ready to burst out at any moment while Calum just watched with tears in his eyes, his hands visibly shaking from where Luke can see.

“Hey!” Luke shouts, making Jack spin around and screech into the air once more. Their eyes lock, Jack’s attention far off of Michael now as Luke watches the boy step towards where Calum stands, making hand gestures for Calum to get out of there. A single tear slides down Luke’s cheek as he watches the creature come closer to him, baring its yellow teeth at him before screeching in face once more. Even if Luke wanted to move at this moment, he was positive he wouldn’t be able to. The terror running through him was enough to keep him steady on the ground.

He notices Calum run for the door, out into the cold winter air as Jack moves away from Luke in hopes of searching for another. Taking a deep breath to gather himself, Luke darts towards the wooden pillar a little closer to the door, keeping his body up against it as he allows himself a few more deep breaths. He can hear Jack screeching once more, the sound of his claws dragging across the wooden flooring loud as he steps closer and closer to where Luke is.

Another Wendigo makes an appearance from up above on the balcony, capturing Jack’s attention as the creature keeps a close eye on it. Luke takes the moment to dart towards another wooden pillar to hide behind, freedom so close to him he can almost taste it on his tongue. He can see Michael already there, backing up slowly towards the door while keeping an eye on Luke. With Calum and Ashton both already out the door, the two of them just needed to get the hell out so Luke could get to the light panel and pull off their plan.

Luke can feel hot, painfully grotesque breath hit his cheek, can smell the blood and flesh resting on the yellowing razor sharp teeth of Jack’s mouth as he appears beside him. Luke shuts his eyes, willing himself to remain still as Jack once again releases a loud screech in his ear as he seemingly awaits him to move. Another fearful tear streaks down Luke’s cheek as he waits for his brother to move, for him to finally get far enough away from him so he could run.

He gets his chance only seconds later, and he doesn’t waste a single moment as he runs as fast as his legs can take him towards the light switch. The other Wendigo crawls after him, lightning fast on Luke’s heels before he hears something tackle it to the ground, both creatures screeching as Luke flicks the light switch against the wall.

Luke can hear the moment everything ignites, watches as a large gust of flames comes approaching fast towards the open door as he leaps off of the deck, hoping to get as far away from the blast as he can. He hits the snow hard, someone pulling him away from the flickering flames as he looks back towards the lodge. Flames curl around the windows, glass shattered around the front deck and into the snow.

“We did it,” Calum chokes out, coughing as smoke from the fire hits his lungs. “It’s over.”

The four friends laugh, sighing with relief as they scramble to their feet and gather into a large group hug. Luke never wants to let go, wants to keep as tight of a grip as possible on his friends as he hears what sounds like a helicopter in the distance. Who knows if it’s for them, or if the helicopter just happened to see the lodge go up in flames and was coming to investigate.

When Luke looks up from the group hug, he notices dawn has just broken over the mountains.


	12. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the ending, just like in the game for the end, these will be police interviews. It's written in script form instead of my normal writing, save for the end where we find out that fate of a certain friend. 
> 
> Also, I am complete and total Criminal Minds trash so that is why the Officers are named Morgan and Rossi. Thank you for reading loves.

_Police Interview, 9:15 am_

_Room 3_

**Calum** : I don’t know who she was. She had never told us her name, had told me it was unimportant when I had asked.

 **Officer Morgan:** Your friend Ashley told us she thought the woman was stalking your group at first. Do you agree with this?

 **Calum:** I don’t think she was stalking us, no. Maybe she was protecting us.

 **Officer Morgan:** From these Wendigos you told us about?

 **Calum:** Yes.

 **Officer Morgan:** This woman you have described to us? We have discovered her name was Valerie Poxleitner. The part that gets to me, however, is that she was believed to have died on Blackwood Mountain a few years ago when her and her husband were attacked by a bear.

 **Calum:** Are you saying that we saw a ghost? I know what I saw!

 **Officer Morgan:** Mr. Hood…

 **Calum:** You think I can just forget that one of those fucking things ripped her apart right in front of me? That the blood on my jacket right now is just an illusion?

**

_Room 2_

**Michael:** All I can think about is her head flying through the window at us. Both of them were supposed to make it back. I should have gone with them out there to get Louis, I was the one who left him out there alone. Is it my fault? Am I the reason she is dead?

 **Officer Rossi:** You couldn’t have known that would happen, Michael.

 **Michael:** I should have, though. I wasn’t good enough. I didn’t think about my actions, and it killed one of my friends.

**

 **Officer Rossi:** Did you know that Mr. Tomlinson was planning all of this?

 **Luke:** I didn’t. Maybe if I had known about how much pain he was in, the hurt he was dealing with on his own? Maybe I could have stopped him.

 **Officer Rossi:** Would you call Mr. Tomlinson insane?

 **Luke:** Ill. He wasn’t okay, wasn’t in his right mind. I wouldn’t call him insane, I would just say he was sick.

 **Officer Rossi:** Is that why you invited everyone to the lodge? A group support?

 **Luke:** I just wanted everyone back together again after losing my brothers. I had missed everyone so much, I just wanted a weekend getaway to forget about last year. That’s all I wanted, Officer. To forget.

**

_Room 3_

**Ashton:** For a moment, I thought I was going to die. The blade was right there, coming for both of us and…I thought that was going to be it. I wouldn’t have been able to say goodbye to my family, or tell the ones I loved that I loved them.

 **Officer Morgan:** From what we have found, that machine was rigged to go in Louis direction either way.

 **Ashton:** I know that is supposed to make me feel better, but it doesn’t. Not in the slightest.

**

 **Harry:** I was lost most of the night, wandering around the mines. I kept trying to find Mali, she had fallen with me but then I ran into Ashley and she told me she was _dead._

 **Officer Morgan:** We had recovered her body from the basement of the lodge with a gunshot wound to the head. It could be possible one of your friends had killed her.

 **Harry:** What about Louis, huh? Have you recovered his body yet? Why haven’t you found him yet?

 **Officer Morgan:** We are searching the entire mountain right now trying to find him. I promise we haven’t given up on him.

 **Harry:** And if you find him dead? Gonna blame my friends for that too?

**

_Room 2_

**Officer Rossi:** You said you thought you had heard Niall Horan down in the mines when you got separated from your friends.

 **Ashley:** It had to have been him. I swear to _God_ it had to have been him down there. 

 **Officer Rossi:** Do you believe your girlfriend heard the same thing? We haven’t been able to recover her body just yet.

 **Ashley:** The Wendigos.

 **Officer Rossi:** What?

 **Ashley:** They can mimic their prey. If Lynn had heard Niall like I did, her body is probably somewhere in the mines. ( _she pauses, sniffling and wiping her eyes with her hand.)_ I should have stayed with her.

**

 **Michael:** Which of us are still alive? Is Calum alright?

 **Officer Rossi:** As far as we are aware, six of you were recovered from the mountain.

 **Michael:** Please, just tell me Calum is okay. I want to see him.

**

_Room 3_

**Calum:** I stabbed him. If I had known it was Louis, I wouldn’t have.

 **Officer Morgan:** Was he threatening you?

 **Calum:** ( _scoffs)_ He had been threatening us all night! I had the scissors in my hands, and I was trying to protect myself!

 **Officer Morgan:** Is that what happened with your sister as well? Someone felt threatened and shot her?

_Calum Hood has declined to comment._

**

 **Ashton:** Is Luke okay? Are they done interviewing him?

 **Officer Morgan:** Officer Rossi will be wrapping up with him shortly, yes. Is something wrong?

 **Ashton:** I’m just worried about him. I know he’s strong, I know he can handle himself, but I just don’t want him to be alone right now. We all need each other right now, more than ever. I just want to make sure he and the rest of my friends are okay.

 **Officer Morgan:** What about you? Are you okay?

 **Ashton:** ( _pause)_ Will any of us ever be again?

**

_Room 2_

**Officer Rossi:** Do you have any idea what could have happened to Louis Tomlinson?

 **Luke:** I know you don’t believe us; I know how ridiculous our stories sound. I mean it when I tell you that he could be in the mines, though. One of those things is keeping him down there, I swear it.

 **Officer Rossi:** What could have dragged him into the mines? What is down there?

 **Luke:** I’ve seen what is down there, what lives in that never ending hell. If I could go back in time, erase it from my mind? I would do it in a heartbeat.

**

The crackling sound of Morgan’s radio echoes off of the mine walls, the man keeping his flashlight shined ahead of him as he catches movement up ahead. Rossi stands beside him, his own flashlight in hand as well as a handgun in case something happened. Both Officers stepped forward cautiously as the figure up ahead moved slightly, revealing what had to be a boy.

“We have a visual on a survivor,” Morgan radios to the crew outside of the mines, lowering his flashlight. “I repeat; we have found a survivor.”

Rossi seems to find himself at a standstill then, refusing to move from his spot as he looks towards the figure in horror. “That is…”

His words never finish, as the figure ahead of them launches forward at Rossi, tackling him to the ground. Morgan watches in horror as the mutilated body of what could have once been a boy slashes his partner to shreds, the gun in Morgan’s hand useless as it drops to the ground, alerting the creature and sending its now fogged over blue eyes in Morgan’s direction.

With a loud, deafening screech into the air, Louis leaps forward.

**Author's Note:**

> yell, scream, or talk to me at lucasashtons on tumblr :)


End file.
